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The old chief’s heart was conquered as never before 

Page 72 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


HER STRANGE EXPERIENCES AND 
ADVENTURES 

IN INDIAN LAND 

BY 

ANNIE M. BARNES 

ILLUSTRATED BY FRANK T. MERRILL 



BOSTON 

LEE AND SHEPARD 


*T 

THE LIBRARY OF I 

CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

MAY 29 1903 

Copyright Entry 
"OjlAr. 7-1- fq 0 3 

CLASS CL- XXc. No. 

S' 2 > U> I 

COPY 8. 


Copyright, 1903, by Lee and Shepard 
P ublished, August, 1903. 


All Eights Reserved. 


Little Betty Blew. 





Nurtoaob $«ss 

J. S. Cushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith 

* ’ t i Norwood Mass. U. S. A. 

. » * •* * 



TOttfj 3Lofc z 


TO 

MY LOUIE 

A LITTLE GIRL OF NOT SO VERY 


VERY LONG AGO 

























































✓ 











CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

On the Great Sea 1 

CHAPTER II 

In Charles Town 18 

CHAPTER III 

Chi-co-la 35 

CHAPTER 1Y 

The Journey up the River .... 52 

CHAPTER Y 

Mistress Betty dines in State . . 65 

CHAPTER YI 

Dom-be-di-e-ty and the Baby .... 82 


v 


VI 


CONTENTS 


Sir Thomas 

CHAPTER YII 

PAGE 

101 

Betty’s Letter 

CHAPTER YIII 

113 


CHAPTER IX 


Winks plays Beggar and Hero . . . 125 

CHAPTER X 

Dear Maid Betty 145 

CHAPTER XI 

A Treacherous Craft 157 

CHAPTER XII 

A New Acquaintance 174 

CHAPTER XIII 

A Search in Vain 191 

CHAPTER XIY 


Ton-ke-a-bau at Last 1 


204 


CONTENTS 


Yll 


CHAPTER XV 

PAGE 

Innocent for Guilty 221 

CHAPTER XVI 

Rescue 236 

CHAPTER XVII 

The Attack 255 

Conclusion 277 









4 















































ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

The old ‘chiefs heart was conquered as never 

before .... Frontispiece 72 

On sped Betty, and faster and faster came 

Dom-be-di-e-ty 93 

“ Where did you learn to speak sueh good 

English ? ” asked Mr. Blew . . . 180 

Raising his harpoon, Pan-tau-tle stepped away 

from Betty 235 




LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


CHAPTER I 

ON THE GREAT SEA 

Yes, they were all going to a new, strange 
country far down the great waters, called 
the Atlantic Ocean, — father, mother, Aunt 
Joan, Charles, Caroline, Daniel (otherwise 
Dinks), and Betty (sometimes called Eliza- 
beth) with whom this story has most to do. 
There were, too, Simon Dale and Miranda 
Welch, whom I came very near forgetting, 
and Winks, who could not by any means be 
forgotten, as I am sure you will agree when 
you have become acquainted with him. 
For Winks was the dog, who dressed en- 
tirely in black, as the parson did, week days 


i 


2 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


as well as Sundays, with only a small spot 
of white shirt front showing, one white 
stockinged foot, as though he had lost a 
shoe from that one, big brown eyes that 
told their love when you told yours, and 
ears always asking questions. 

Father said at first that Winks could not 
go. There was really no way of carrying 
him. Only difficulties presented themselves 
when the matter was discussed. But the 
children made such lamentable outcry at 
even the suggestion of leaving Winks 
behind, that Mr. Blew was finally driven 
to say that he would find some way to have 
Winks shipped as passenger on the good 
ship that was to carry them to their new 
home, if he had to bribe the captain. Even 
Aunt J oan, who really did not care so much 
for dogs, was on the side of the children 
and Winks. 

“It would never do to leave the dog 
behind,” she declared. “ The children would 


ON THE GREAT SEA 


8 


grieve for Winks, and Winks would grieve 
for the children, and such grief is not to 
be thought of for a moment if it can be 
prevented.” 

This was the sweetest thing about Aunt 
Joan. She never wanted any heart to be 
made sad if it could be helped, especially 
the hearts of little ones. 

“Let us give them all the sunshine we 
can,” she would say. “ The clouds will come 
quickly enough.” 

The captain did not have to be bribed. 
He, too, had a heart like Aunt Joans, — a 
big, warm heart, that was always seeking to 
give pleasure to others. He told Mr. Blew 
that Winks might come aboard ; that there 
was a safe, snug corner in the hold that he 
could call all his own, and that the children 
might have him occasionally on the deck, if 
the other passengers did not object. At any 
rate, he, Captain Gabriel, would see to it 
that Winks was regularly fed with all the 


4 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


scraps the children saved for him, and that 
he was provided, too, with water. 

It would be impossible to say which was 
the happier, Winks or the children, when 
this arrangement was made clear. Winks 
wagged his tail and the children wagged 
their tongues, all in a spasm of delight. Of 
course, Winks understood every word Mr. 
Blew said. He even comprehended so well 
that he never failed to give a bark of ap- 
preciation every time the name of Captain 
Gabriel was mentioned. 

“ Oh, WinkyJ” cried Betty, squeezing 
him hard, “ you must not forget, but be a 
good dog and stay in your corner; for if 
you wander away from it, you may get 
smashed to death or fall overboard, and 
oh! what should we do then? I’d never 
want to see that old Atlantic again.” 

Here Betty began to sob, but Winks 
licked her on the cheek, and said, in that 
dog language which he had learned to bark 


ON THE GREAT SEA 


5 


out when a puppy, that he was well aware 
of all that was expected of him, and 
would show how obedient a faithful little 
dog could be, who had both love and 
gratitude in his heart. 

Charles, who was nearly four times the 
age of Winks, that is, eleven years and a 
half, and not nearly so wise in many things, 
was filled with wild delight at the thought 
of going to that strange, new land, where, 
he had heard, wolves and tigers and lions 
and bears were to be seen every day. 

“I’m going to catch a bear’s cub and 
tame it,” he declared privately to Betty. 
“ Then I can teach it to perform ; and oh, 
yes, Winks can learn to ride it, and such 
a fine thing as it will be. Isn’t that so, 
Winks?” 

But Winks only parted his lips in a 
good-natured smile. He was quite too 
wise to express an opinion. 

“Hum,” said Betty. “Humdum! Oh, 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


Master Braggart, I just know you’ll run 
from the first wolf or bear you see ; I 
don’t care if it is only a teenchy , tiny one, 
no bigger’n so,” and she measured off the 
space of her hand. 

Charles asked a question of Betty sud- 
denly. Perhaps he did it because he felt 
some embarrassment at this time, and 
didn’t want to show it. 

u Oh, Betsey, what do you want to see 
most in that far-away, strange land to 
which we are going ? ” 

Betty thought a moment. It was 
always her way to get the idea well fixed 
in her mind before she spoke it. 

“I think, yes, I am very sure, I want 
most to see the Indians.” 

“ Oh, Betty Blew, they will eat you up, 
surely. Our father says they are quite 
wild and savage, and that they will kill 
the white people every time they get the 
chance. Oh, it must be dreadful ! ” 


ON THE GREAT SEA 


7 


“ No worse than the lions and tigers 
and wolves that you said you wanted to 
see.” 

“ But I meant only little bitsey wolves 
and tigers, baby ones.” 

“ And maybe I meant little Indians, 
too,” said Betty, a sly look in her eyes. 
“ Anyhow, I know there are little ones, 
and they are not savage, and they don’t 
try to kill people. Oh, I’m completely 
aching to see them; and, yes, I’m going 
right off to hunt them so soon as I get 
there.” 

“Why, Elizabeth, you wouldn’t dare do 
such a thing as that. They’d kill you, 
sure. Father says one of the first things 
we’ll have to do when we reach our new 
home will be to build a fort. And the 
houses will have to be made strong, too, 
for the Indians are very bad there.” 

“ But they won’t kill me,” persisted 
Betty, stoutly. “I’ll let them know how 


8 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


much I think of them and how far I 
have come to see them.” 

“And they’ll take your scalp and divide 
it and hang it to their belts. They’ll 
whoop and whoop when they see that nice 
long hair of yours.” 

“Oh, the big Indians might; but I am 
not going to hunt the big Indians. It is 
the baby Indians I want to see. Only 
think, I’ve never seen a baby Indian. 
I’ve seen the big ones here many times ; 
but it’s the baby ones my eyes want most 
to look on. Oh, how beautiful they must 
be with the feathers in their hair and 
beads all over them ! Oh, Charles Blew,” 
her voice rising with excitement, “ I 
never stole a thing in my life, you know 
I never did! But I believe, yes, I do 
truly believe , I would steal an Indian baby 
if I could get to one.” 

'“Me! My!” said Charles, “such taste 
as you have, Elizabeth Blew. I would 


ON THE GREAT SEA 


9 


never have thought it of you if you had 
not told it on yourself.” 

He was plainly disgusted, and showed it 
not only by words and looks, but by move- 
ments. He made many little grimaces, 
then he turned away and left Betty to 
contemplate alone the delightful picture 
of Indian babies in feathers, paint, and 
shining beads, their gleaming little faces 
smiling a welcome to her from that far- 
off land to which she was so soon to go. 

The idea of an Indian baby doing any 
harm to her ! Charles was foolish to 
think of it. And the fathers and mothers 
of the Indian babies would be so pleased 
and proud that she took the trouble to 
hunt for them, that they would give her 
a great welcome, instead of seeking to 
hurt her. Oh, yes, she was quite sure 
of it. 

While the minds of the younger mem- 
bers of the family were thus filled with 


10 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


pleasure and excitement as they thought 
of that new, strange land to which they 
were going, and talked over the journey 
they were so soon to make, to the older 
ones these matters were grave indeed. 
For not only were they about to break 
the ties that had bound them for years, 
to leave their friends and homes, but they 
were going into a wild and inhospitable 
country, one about which they knew little. 
But this portion of the Carolina colony 
had been represented to them as very fer- 
tile and attractive. There were great 
forests of magnificent pines from which 
not only dwellings and structures for de- 
fence could be erected, but they also pro- 
duced tar, pitch, turpentine, and barrel 
staves, a source of much profit at that 
time. 

The forests also abounded in wild ani- 
mals that could be hunted and trapped. 
Already the trade in skins and furs, 


ON THE GREAT SEA 


11 


especially with the mother country (Eng- 
land), had become a considerable one. 
But a far higher motive carried the 
larger number of these pilgrims, who, on 
that bleak winter day, December 5, 1695, 
set sail in two small vessels from Dor- 
chester in Massachusetts, on Boston Bay, 
to what afterward was known as Dor- 
chester, on the Ashley River, in South 
Carolina. 

The most of those composing this hardy 
band of pioneers were ardent church 
members, belonging to the Congregational 
church. They looked forward with the 
eyes of true missionaries upon this spot 
in the wild country inhabited by savage 
men, and they longed to tell them the 
tidings of great joy. With them came 
their minister, the Rev. Joseph Lord, and 
every day that they were on the voyage 
he was talking not only about the church 
that would be one of the first buildings 


12 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


erected in the new settlement, but also 
about what could be done for the souls 
of the savage men and women. How 
earnestly indeed he talked about this ! 

It was a delight to Betty to creep near 
when the minister was talking. He not 
only said things that it interested her to 
hear, but he was by no means a stern 
man. He loved children, and would now 
and then address a remark to Betty, and 
more than now and then he gave her a 
smile. If ministers only knew how it 
pleased the little ones to have such no- 
tice, I think, nay, I am sure, they would 
bestow it oftener. 

“The minister is talking about having 
the Indians come to the church services,” 
said Betty to Charles. “Oh, I do hope 
they will bring the babies with them.” 

“For you to steal, good Mistress Eliza- 
beth?” asked Charles, teasingly. 

“No,” said Betty, soberly; “I should 


ON THE GREAT SEA 


13 


not have to steal one then. If they 
would bring them where I could see 
them and have them to hold myself, that 
would make me satisfied.” 

They were no more than halfway to the 
Carolina coast when a terrible storm broke 
over the vessels. Not being large vessels 
they were tossed about on the great ocean 
as though they were children’s toys. The 
great waves came rolling over the decks, and 
it seemed as though the ships would surely 
be beaten to pieces by the fierce winds. 
On the ship where the Blews were, men 
and women prayed all the time, and Cap- 
tain Gabriel, though he tried to keep up 
a brave heart, looked very grave indeed. 

Betty and Charles were much frightened, 
as were all the children on board. Daniel 
clung to his mother’s neck through it all, 
and no one could take him away. He 
knew the safest port in the time of storm. 
The children thought many times of poor 


14 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


Winks down in the hold, and wondered if 
he would not just die of the fright. But 
Winks was a braver dog than they 
thought. 

When it was all over, when the great 
waves had rolled back, and the angry 
winds had died out, and the sun was 
shining again, then the children begged 
Captain Gabriel to let them have their 
pet for a while. Like the kind-hearted 
man he was, he consented. How rejoiced 
Winks was to be with his friends again 
after all the trying experiences through 
which he had passed ! 

“He looks glad,” said Betty, “and he 
looks solemn, too — just as if he wanted 
to hold a prayer meeting.” 

Perhaps Winks did. Had he done so, 
it assuredly would have been one for the 
purpose of returning thanks — an act many 
two-footed Winkses forget to perform. 

But these good pilgrims were not of 


ON THE GREAT SEA 


15 


this sort. Being grateful as well as 
devout, and the next day after that on 
which the storm subsided falling on Friday, 
it was set apart as one of fasting and 
prayer. The services lasted throughout 
the day. Psalms were read, hymns sung, 
and one and another rendered fervent 
thanks to God who had so wondrously 
and graciously preserved them — all of 
which is faithfully recorded in the diary 
of Elder William Pratt. 

The storm continued to be for some time 
the subject of much conversation on the 
part of the young Blews. 

“Wasn’t it dreadful?” said Betty. “I 
thought every minute the ship was going 
to pieces. I could see that father and 
mother, and even Captain Gabriel, thought 
so too.” 

“ I was wishing me,” declared Charles, 
“that if we did have to be shipwrecked, 
the Lord would send a whale along so 


16 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


we could get inside of him as Jonah did. 
It would be so much nicer to be in a 
whale’s stomach than to be going down, 
down all by yourself into the waves.” 

“But suppose the whale forgot to let 
you come out again ? ” asked Betty, aghast ; 
“ and when he did it wasn’t on land ? 
You’d go down, down into the waves any- 
how, and what would become of you then , 
I’d like to know ? ” 

Charles hadn’t an answer for this ques- 
tion, and as, boylike, he didn’t want to 
show Betty that she had perplexed him, 
he made an adroit movement to turn the 
conversation, and succeeded. 

Fourteen days after they had set sail 
they came in sight of the only settlement 
of any consequence in the entire colony of 
the Carolinas, Charles Town, which was 
afterward to become the greatest city of 
the South Atlantic coasts. 

It was not so that they could get in 


ON THE GREAT SEA 


17 


that day; but the next the pilot came to 
conduct them across the bar, and into the 
harbor, which they found a beautiful, 
landlocked one. 

The good vessel Friendship, on which 
were the young Blews, fired a salute of 
three guns as it approached the town. 
This salute was immediately responded to 
by one of nine guns from the fortifications, 
which Elder Pratt tells us was an honor 
“more than the usial.” This was but the 
beginning of the royal greeting which they 
received. Their coming had been widely 
heralded. Many citizens thronged the quay 
to receive them; warm words of welcome 
were spoken, and homes thrown open to 
them. 


CHAPTER II 


IN CHARLES TOWN 

All along the way from the old home 
to the new, they had been looking out for 
pirates. The fear of them had never left 
the captains of the two vessels, for well 
they knew the danger. The coasts were 
infested with them. Especially was this 
true of the Carolina coasts, their principal 
haunts. There were numerous inlets all 
the way from the Cape Fear to the Savan- 
nah, then called by the Spaniards the Jor- 
dan River. The entrances to many of these 
inlets were intricate and known only to 
these pirates. Into them they could flee 
for safety when pursued. 

There was much talk on both the ships 
of Henry Morgan, the boldest of the bucca- 
neers, who had been knighted by Charles II 


18 


IN CHARLES TOWN 


19 


and made lieutenant-governor of Jamaica, 
and all this despite the fact that the king 
knew of his wicked deeds. 

“ Such a shame as it was/’ declared Mr. 
Blew, “ for the king to have made a knight 
and a governor of the bold, bad pirate. 
It was plainly giving a reward to vice.” 

“ I think the king himself profited by 
the vice,” declared Captain Gabriel ; “ hence 
the reward. He was known to have reaped 
rich harvests from the captured stores of 
the pirate chief who was able, it was said, 
to show papers of sanction from the king 
to sail anywhere in English waters unmo- 
lested, and to do pretty much as he pleased 
in every way.” 

Another pirate about whom they talked 
was Captain Kidd. It seemed he was just 
beginning his bad deeds. There were men 
aboard who knew him, and they could 
hardly believe the stories they heard. He 
had been sent out to suppress piracy, and 


20 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


now it seemed he had become a pirate him- 
self. “ Too bad ! too bad ! ” What would 
not men do when the greed for gold seized 
them ? 

The children were close listeners to all 
that was said about the pirates. Some of 
it they under stood, and some they did not. 
But one thing was very clear : all on board 
were filled with a fear of the pirate ships, 
the dread of meeting one or more of them 
on the way. Even Captain Gabriel, big 
and brave as he was, had an anxious face 
when the matter of the pirates was dis- 
cussed. He was known, too, to keep a 
sharp lookout for them all the time, and 
the men who helped him with the ship 
were instructed to be ready at any moment 
with their weapons of defence. 

“ I think it would be great fun,” declared 
Charles, “if we could see a pirate vessel, 
only I wouldn’t want the pirates to come 
close enough to capture us.” 


IN CHARLES TOWN 


21 


“ If they came near enough for us to see 
them, then I fear they’d be near enough to 
get us,” said Betty, wisely ; “ and they would 
get us, too,” added she, with conviction; 
and her big gray eyes flew wider open than 
ever at the thought of how dreadful this 
would be. 

“ Yes, they would get us,” repeated Betty. 
“ I know it, ’cause this isn’t a big vessel, 
and there aren’t so many men aboard, and 
our guns are very small. I have heard both 
father and Captain Gabriel say all this, so 
I know. 

“ I want to see a pirate, too,” she ad- 
mitted with candor ; “ but, oh, I don’t want 
them to come near enough to capture us, 
’cause I’ve heard they kill folks whenever 
they want to. Oh, I wish I could see a 
pirate ; but I should want it to be like when 
I saw the bear Simon caught — the one that 
was hard and fast in the big log trap.” 

“ Oh, Elizabeth,” cried Charles, suddenly, 


22 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


u what would you do now if a pirate really 
caught you ? ” 

Betty shut her eyes tight for a moment ; 
even the suggestion was too dreadful to 
take in with eyes open. It made her shud- 
der, for the very moment Charles spoke it 
seemed as though a big pirate had popped 
up right before her. A pirate with big black 
whiskers and red paint all over his face (I 
am not sure but that Betty was getting 
pirates mixed up with Indians), with great 
fierce eyes, and with pistols and knives 
stuck in his belt and his boots. 

As the terrible picture faded away, she 
opened her eyes. 

“I’m not sure what I would do,” she 
said, in answer to Charles ; “ but I think — 
yes, I’m certain , that I should shut my eyes 
just as I did then, and — ” 

“ Scream,” finished Charles. 

“ No, ” said Betty, positively, “ I never 
did scream — that is, real loud — at any- 


IN CHARLES TOWN 


28 

thing, and you know that, Charles. Yes, 
I would shut my eyes, and then I would 
draw my breath in real hard. After a 
moment I would open my eyes again 
and — ” 

“ Well ? ” asked Charles. 

“ And then I would say, ‘ Oh, please, 
Master Pirate Man, you can’t be wanting 
to hurt a little girl like me ? ’ And I 
know he would let me go, because Aunt 
Joan says it pays to be polite to anybody.” 

But Betty did not have the opportunity 
to test on pirates the strength of Aunt 
Joan’s rule, for they came at last in sight 
of the good city of Charles Town without 
having seen a single pirate ship by the 
way, a matter that caused every one, old 
enough to realize what it meant, to render 
a devout thanksgiving to Him who had 
preserved them. 

But the good ship had but little more 
than dropped anchor when they heard that 


24 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW , 


the captain and crew of a pirate ship had 
been captured by the citizens only a week 
or two before. The captain with six of 
the most guilty of the company had been 
hung in chains on an island near the 
entrance of the port as a warning to 
others. Their bodies were there now, 
bleaching in the sun. How thankful 
Betty was that it had been dusk when 
they had passed this island, and they 
had thus been saved the shocking 
sight. 

What a smart, fine city was this to which 
they had come ! Betty could scarcely be- 
lieve her eyes. She had thought they were 
going to a strange, wild country, where 
everything had a rough and savage ap- 
pearance. She had even expected to see 
Indians, dressed in feathers and paint and 
moccasins, crowd about the ship as soon 
as it anchored. And she was not sure but 
that after they had landed, they should 


IN CHARLES TOWN 


25 


be afraid to sleep at night with the howl- 
ing of the wild beasts all around them. 
But my! my! what a scene was that on 
which her eyes looked the next morning, 
when the sun came up bright and beauti- 
ful, falling upon the tiled roofs of the dwell- 
ings, and glistening upon the belfry of the 
English church. Here was a fine city of 
full five thousand souls, with many neat, 
strong buildings of wood and others of 
brick. 

It stood on a peninsula between the two 
rivers, the Ashley and the Cooper, named 
for a lord proprietor, the Earl of Shaftes- 
bury, Sir Ashley Cooper, and faced the bay 
formed by their junction. Several miles 
out rolled the broad Atlantic adown which 
the voyagers had come. 

“ Oh,” cried Betty, clapping her hands, 
“ isn’t it a fine place ? and aren’t you glad, 
Charles, we are to stay here several days ? 
Father says that after to-day and to-night 


26 LITTLE BETTY BLEW 

we may go ashore, and he is to get rooms 
for us at the inn.” 

“The first thing I am going to see,” 
declared Charles, “is the parade ground, 
where father says the militia drills every 
day or so. I think I’ll ask them to let me 
beat the drum,” and he threw his head 
back and strutted about as though he al- 
ready had its strap around his neck. 

“You’ll drop it and run the first time 
it sounds out loud,” asserted Betty. 

I am very sorry to record that she hadn’t 
much of an opinion of Charles’s bravery. 
Perhaps she had cause. But we shall find 
out about that. 

“I’ll show you,” returned Charles, and 
he was indignant enough to glare at 
Betty. 

Even Caroline was delighted at sight 
of the city. She had wanted to do a 
little extra shopping before the ship set 
sail, and had been regretting all the way 


IN CHARLES TOWN 


27 


that no opportunity of going to Boston 
had presented itself. 

“ Perhaps I can get some, at least, of 
the things I want here.” 

“ Some ? ” her father repeated, a smile 
wreathing his lips. “Why, my daughter, 
ships come here every day from England, 
bringing the best of everything to be 
had there. It won’t take you long to 
find out that even Boston can’t show the 
luxurious living that is found here. Some 
of the Carolinians live in a style only 
equalled by the lords and ladies of the 
mother land.” 

“ Why, father, I thought it but a rough 
and savage country, and that Charles 
Town would be but a poor little city, 
principally of log huts, mud-daubed. Where 
can there be any hardships and privations 
in a life here?” 

“You will find them soon enough,” her 
father answered, and sadly now. “The 


28 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


wild, savage country will erelong be re- 
vealed. Charles Town is all there is, or 
very nearly all, of civilization in Caro- 
lina/’ 

A wall of strong fortifications enclosed 
the city. There were six formidable bas- 
tions. Three of them were on the Cooper 
River side, commanding the approach 
from the sea. Near one of these the 
stanch ships that had brought the voy- 
agers from the old home at Dorchester to 
the new had dropped anchor. These for- 
tifications had not long been built, and 
the newcomers learned that the citizens 
were in daily expectation of an attack by 
the Spaniards. Some of their ships had 
already been seen outside. 

“ Oh, wouldn’t it be a jolly thing if 
they came while we were here ! ” said 
Charles. “I should like so to see a big 
fight.” 

And every day after that during the 


IN CHARLES TOWN 


29 


time they were in Charles Town he kept 
a sharp lookout for the Spaniards, and 
pretended to be very brave about their 
coming ; but Betty was quite sure he 
would be one of the first to run and 
hide, doubtless with his head on his 
mother’s shoulder, did the big ships 
appear. 

They found the streets laid out regu- 
larly and moderately wide. A historian 
who has described them says they were 
“ capaciously wide.” I suppose they were 
for that day. 

There was a Town House — we should 
call it a City Hall now — and two or 
three other public buildings which seemed 
quite imposing then. Down on the Bay 
stood a dozen or more of fine residences, 
one of them belonging to Mr. Landgrave 
Smith, who had his own private wharf 
and drawbridge. He it was who was 
afterward to be credited with the intro- 


30 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


duction of rice into the colony, but to 
whom this honor did not belong, as we 
shall see in time, despite those two worthy 
historians, Dr. Ramsay and Mr. He watt, 
who sometimes went to sleep while they 
were writing. 

Near by Mr. Landgrave Smith’s house 
was that of Mr. Rhett, who not long 
after this was to win such distinction as 
commander of the fleet that routed the 
French ships under Le Feboure when he 
sought to attack and capture Charles 
Town. He was also to be known as the 
man who cleared the Carolina coast of 
the worst of its pirates. Mr. Boone, Mr. 
Logan, and Mr. Schenkingh also had fine, 
smart houses for that day. All of these 
were built of brick brought over from 
England, but the great timbers that held 
everything together were cut from the 
Carolina forests. 

There was, too, a public library, and 


IN CHARLES TOWN 


31 


they were talking about the establish- 
ment of a free school. Not far from 
the busiest part of the city stood the 
little French meeting-house, built by those 
sturdy immigrants, the Huguenots, who 
fifteen years before had come over in the 
good ship Richmond. The building that 
stands to-day on that same spot is known 
as the only Huguenot church in America. 
West of that was the Independent church, 
Presbyterian, or white meeting-house, as 
it was called then. But most imposing 
of all was St. Philip’s, the English church, 
on the site of the present far-famed St. 
Michael’s. It was of black cypress on a 
brick foundation, and was very stately and 
handsome. 

What fine walks Betty and Charles had 
about the streets with their father! and 
once they were taken for a ride along 
the beautiful public roadway leading out 
of the city to the north, called Broadway. 


32 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


On each side of it were lovely stretches 
of woods, where many of the trees were 
still green, though it was December, and 
where the birds hopped about and sang 
all day long. Underneath were stretches 
of soft, velvety moss from which clusters 
of tiny wild flowers were already begin- 
ning to peep. 

But most of all they enjoyed going to 
the wharves where ships of all sorts and 
sizes would be lying, loading and unload- 
ing. For this Carolina colony had a great 
trade both with the West Indies and 
England, the mother country. One morn- 
ing they saw over twenty vessels riding 
at anchor. 

Oh, it was a great city then, as it is 
many times a greater now, after the lapse 
of more than ^o hundred years, this 
chief city of the South Atlantic, known 
now to, and loved by Carolinians as 
Charleston. 


IN CHARLES TOWN 


33 


While the larger number of our pil- 
grims remained in Charles Town, others 
set off, in small bands, on journeys to the 
interior for the purpose of selecting a 
favorable site for the new Dorchester. 
The routes chosen were principally along 
the two rivers, as it had already been 
decided that the settlement would be upon 
one or the other. 

Elder Pratt and Master Increase Sumner 
sought the plantation of Mr. Norman, 
desiring his counsel. He was known to 
have great experience in, and much wis- 
dom concerning, the Carolina lands. 

Rev. Joseph Lord and companions 
directed their way to the Landgrave Mor- 
ton’s, while another small band made 
visit to no less a personage than Gover- 
nor Blake himself. Attach place they 
were warmly received, hospitably enter- 
tained, and given earnest invitation to 
settle. 


84 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


Various favorable sites for the planting 
of the colony were both recommended and 
shown to them. Finally they agreed upon 
one directly along the Ashley, twenty miles 
by public trail from Charles Town. 


CHAPTER III 


CHI-CO-LA 

“ Elizabeth/’ said Mr. Blew, “ as we 
leave Charles Town the day after to-mor- 
row, if there is anything you want par- 
ticularly to see that you haven’t seen 
already, you must do so to-day. To-mor- 
row I have business with Captain John 
Godfrey and Mr. Grimball.” 

“ Oh, father,” cried Betty, “ I must see 
the Indians.” 

“ I thought you had done this, Betty. 
We’ve passed them on the street from 
time to time.” 

“ But I haven’t seen enough of them. 
I want to go to the market square, where 
they bring in their things to sell. And, 
oh, father, I do want to see an Indian 
baby more than anything else.” 

35 


36 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


“ An Indian baby ? Why, have not you 
seen that already ? There were Indian 
babies at Dorchester.” 

“ Yes, sir, I know that ; but somehow I 
never did see one, except the little papoose 
that had on clothes not much different 
from Dinks’s own. I want to see an Ind- 
ian baby in Indian clothes, and oh, I do 
so want to hold it in my arms and have it 
for my very own just for a teenchy while. 
Father, — ” 

“ I’m listening, Mistress Elizabeth.” 

“What do you suppose an Indian baby 
looks like ? ” 

“ Why, like an Indian baby, of course.” 

“ Oh, you know what I mean. What 
does an Indian baby look like in Indian 
clothes, with feathers in its hair and beads 
shining all over it?” 

“Well, dear, if it had a tuft of feathers 
in its hair and was wrapped in its blanket 
with only its little round face and blink- 


CHI-CO-LA 


37 


in g eyes showing, it would look like an 
owl. But if it lay in the sun, with the 
beads all ashine, then I should say it 
would look like a little lizard, especially 
if it tried to crawl.” 

“ Oh, that is horrid of you, father. 
You know an Indian baby doesn’t look 
like either an owl or a lizard. But never 
mind, I’ll see for myself.” 

“Yes, Mistress Elizabeth, I think you 
will. In this country, where there are 
Indians thick as crows in the springtime, 
it won’t be long till you see all the Indian 
babies you want to see. But run and find 
Caroline and Charles and your little friends, 
Emily and Henry Boddey. We will go to 
the market square where the Indians bring 
their baskets, skins, and pottery for sale. 
They are sure to be there now, yes, crowds 
of them. I can safely promise you that 
you will see not only one, but many Indian 
babies.” 


38 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


Betty ran away in high glee to seek the 
others. She found Charles and the little 
Roddeys delighted at the prospect before 
them. But Caroline had met some friends 
from Boston and was going to spend the 
day with them. Besides, Caroline really 
thought she was quite too big now to go 
on such childish excursions. She would 
rather sit all day and work samplers with 
the Misses Taft and hear their interesting 
talk about the parties they had attended 
and the attentions paid them by the nu- 
merous young gentlemen of their acquaint- 
ance. It really was quite grown-up like. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Blew, in company with 
Betty, Charles, and Emily and Henry Rod- 
dey, set off for the market-place. 

It was one of the pleasures of this 
good father to give his children all the 
happiness he could. He remembered his 
own cheerless childhood and determined 
theirs should not be such. And because 


CHI-CO-LA 


89 


he wanted them to be sunny of face and 
cheerful of temperament, he kept his own 
face bright, though sometimes his heart 
would be aching as it was now. 

For Charles Town brought sad recollec- 
tions to Mr. and Mrs. Blew. This was 
not the first time they had been here. 
Fourteen years before, when on their way 
from Barbadoes to Boston, they had stopped 
at Charles Town for two weeks while the 
sloop by which they were sailing dis- 
charged one cargo and loaded with an- 
other. The remembrance of these two 
weeks always filled Mr. and Mrs. Blew 
with a sorrow too deejj for words. For 
during that time a terrible grief had come 
to them, the most terrible they had ever 
known. Their eldest child, Edward, a 
bright, handsome little fellow two and 
a half years old, had become separated 
from them one day as they mingled with 
a crowd on the wharf, and though they 


40 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


had searched far and wide for him, they 
had never seen him again. A party had 
been quickly organized, and the entire city 
gone over carefully. The men even went 
for miles out into the surrounding coun- 
try, but there was no trace of the little 
Edward. In pity for the distracted father 
and mother, the good captain of the ship 
had delayed for two days his sailing, so 
that the search might be made as thor- 
ough as possible. The opinion was finally 
entertained that the child had fallen from 
the wharf and been drowned. Certainly 
there was no trace of him by land. It 
was with bleeding hearts that the poor 
father and mother turned away from the 
city, where so terrible a sorrow had come 
to them, to resume their voyage. It must 
have been that in choosing at last a place 
near the city of their woe as their future 
home, they were lured by the whisperings 
of a hope that they might yet learn the 


CHI-CO-LA 


41 


fate of their darling boy. Perhaps — who 
knew ? — they might some day find Edward 
himself. 

The loss of their eldest boy had left 
them with but one child at the time, Caro- 
line, then .seven months old. The other 
little Blews — Charles, Elizabeth, and 
Daniel — had all been born in Dorchester, 
and that is the same as though I should 
now say that they were born in Boston. 

They found the market-place crowded, 
so much so, that Mr. Blew with difficulty 
made a passage for the little people. There 
were many white men of all ages and 
appearances. There were, too, a large 
number of Indians. With what delight 
did Betty discover this. But her delight 
soon changed to bitter disappointment 
when she learned that there were only a 
few women in all that great crowd, and 
not a single baby. After a while she was 
to know the reason of it. 


42 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


The crowd seemed greatly excited. The 
men were pushing and elbowing each other, 
and talking in loud voices. The Indians 
apparently did not have much to say, ex- 
cept a few sentences now and then mut- 
tered to each other. Their faces had a 
sullen look. In some it was plainly one 
of defiance. 

“ What can be the matter ? ” asked Mr. 
Blew, turning suddenly to a man at his 
side. 

“ Oh, just one of the Governor’s blun- 
ders. He’s had no more discretion than 
to bring up for punishment those Indians 
who are behind with their taxes, on the 
very day of the assembling of the con- 
vention to discuss the disturbed state of 
Indian affairs. ” 

“ All a sad mistake, friend Blew,” 
said a familiar voice now at his elbow, 
and turning he looked into the face of 
Mr. Peter Grimball. 


CHI-CO-LA 


43 


“The Governor means well, no doubt,” 
lie continued, “ but he’s made a bad mess 
of it. He’s constantly prating of his mercy 
to the Indians, yet there is no man in the 
province who has shown more inhumanity 
to them in certain ways than he. John 
Archdale may pride himself on his admin- 
istration of ‘ wisdom and justice,’ as he is 
pleased to call it; but the day will come 
when even he will be forced to admit the 
inconsistency of his course. It is ques- 
tionable wisdom and a poor sort of justice 
that won’t work both ways.” 

“ Why, what has the good Quaker Gov- 
ernor done now ? ” asked Mr. Blew in 
much astonishment. 

“ He, at least, would be pleased to have 
you call him thus,” replied Mr. Grimball. 
“That is the title he has sought to carve 
out for himself, and no man is more jealous 
of his good name than he. Certainly he 
has done many things for which there 


44 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


will be many throughout the province 
who will rise up and call him blessed. 
On the other hand there are those acts 
that will bring him anything else than 
blessings. Foremost among them is this 
miserable Indian business. While he has 
forbidden the colonists to make slaves of 
the Indians, and very speedily remitted 
the hard laws of Sothell with reference to 
disarming them, and thus depriving them 
of one of the chief sources of subsistence, 
he has, nevertheless, put the Indian on a 
footing with the slave in all the adminis- 
trations of the law. If an Indian steals 
a boat, he gets the same punishment a 
slave would receive, — thirty-nine lashes 
upon the bare back, and not simply the 
small fine which is the law in the case 
of the other free man, the white man. 
If the Indian repeats the offence, he has 
his ears cut off. 

“ Another of the laws of the ‘good 


CHI-CO-LA 


45 


Quaker Governor ’ with reference to the 
Indians is, that every bowman capable of 
killing deer is required, before the 25th 
of November in every yelir, to bring to 
such person as the Governor shall appoint 
as receiver, one wolf skin, one bear, and 
two cat 1 skins. Should he fail to do 
this, then he is brought to Charles Town 
before the 25th of December to be se- 
verely whipped on the bare back in sight 
of the inhabitants of the said town. This 
is exactly what is taking place now, or 
has been taking place, to be more accu- 
rate. Eleven Indians have been severely 
flogged here this morning, cruelly so, for 
I have seen the blood trickling from their 
backs, and all because they have failed 
to contribute their allotment of skins to 
swell the revenue of old Archdale’s 
treasury.” 

“ This is terrible,” said Mr. Blew. “ I 


1 The wildcat. 


46 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


am glad we did not get here in time to 
see any of it,” and he glanced uneasily at 
the children beside him. 

“ There, I do not believe it is really 
over ! ” exclaimed Mr. Grimball, suddenly. 
“ There seems to be another. They have 
been waiting on him for some reason. 
Oh, now I see. The man appears sick. 
Yes, I am sure he is sick. What a for- 
lorn-looking object he is, anyhow. But 
see ! what can they be about to do ? They 
surely cannot be going to chastise the man, 
and he in that condition ! ” 

Mr. Blew now turned in the direction 
indicated, and he, too, saw the miserable 
object at which Mr. Grimball was so 
steadily gazing. 

An Indian of apparently fifty years 
of age had been rudely seized and 
dragged toward the block by two of the 
deputies. The services of two of them 
seemed altogether unnecessary, for the 


CHI-CO-LA 


47 


man was so weak he could scarcely stand 
when for a moment they released him. It 
appeared to be more a weakness from 
sickness than from old age. He was 
wasted to a mere shadow. The bones 
of his cheeks stood out prominently. His 
eyes were sunken. His limbs trembled 
so they could scarcely support him. 

As the deputies seized him again and 
began rudely to remove his buckskin shirt, 
preparatory to placing him on the block, 
he raised his head and let his eyes wander 
over the sea of faces about him, with a 
hunted, appealing gaze. It was, too, a 
hopeless gaze, as though he knew full 
well no succor would come to him from 
that source, no response be made to his 
appeal. 

“ It is Chi-co-la,” said Mr. Grimball. 
“ Poor wretch, I am sure he has been 
unable to meet the Governors demand. 
For some reason his people have cast him 


48 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


off, and he has had to shift for himself. 
I have heard he was down with chills and 
fever all fall. He doesn’t by any means 
look as though he was yet out of their 
clutches. What a shame to require the 
tax of him! I wish old Archdale could 
look on this picture. A sorry boast he 
could make then of his humanity.” 

“ What is the value of the skins he 
ought to have brought as tribute?” asked 
Mr. Blew, suddenly. “ I mean, how much 
would he have had to produce in money in 
lieu of the skins?” 

“ About three pounds, I believe.” 

“And could any one pay the amount 
for him and save him from the punish- 
ment ? ” 

“ Certainly.” 

“Then, friend, please see to these chil- 
dren for me for a short time. Betty, 
Charles, you must not move away until 
father returns.” 


CHI-CO-LA 


49 


* Why, what can you be going to do ? ” 
asked Mr. Grimball with some little con- 
sternation. 

But his words received no answer, for 
Mr. Blew was by this time too far away 
to hear them. 

66 St-op ! ” said Mr. Blew to the deputies, 
who were just in the act of dragging the 
wretched Indian upon the block. “ Stop ! 
I will pay this man’s fine. Do you not 
see that he could never stand such punish- 
ment as you are about to inflict ? It would 
be his death.” 

He spoke sternly now, and his deep 
black eyes were flashing as he fixed them 
upon the deputy nearest to him. The 
man quailed, muttering something, while 
his companion slunk out of sight behind 
him. He was evidently not of a mind to 
serve as the target of this man’s anger. 

“ Release him ! ” Mr. Blew said to the 
man to whom he had already spoken. 


50 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


“ You’ll wait for the law to do that/ 
returned the deputy, surlily. “ Who are 
you, anyhow, that comes here interfering 
in this high-and-mighty manner ? ” 

“My name you’ll know when the fine 
is paid. Direct me to the proper party to 
receive it.” 

All this time the Indian Chi-co-la was 
gazing with fascinated eyes upon Mr. 
Blew. When he had first appeared, a 
strange expression had flitted over the 
Indian’s face. It was in part a look of 
sudden remembrance, then one of doubt, 
of deepening perplexity. When Mr. Blew 
spoke, the expression of Chi-co-la’s face 
changed to one of fear. Then his eyes 
were veiled and his head fell upon his 
breast, and more than ever he trembled. 

But as he caught the meaning of the 
words that were spoken, as he realized 
that the man before him had come only 
on a mission of rescue, he raised his head 


CHI-CO-LA 


51 


again quickly. A look of joy flashed to 
his eyes. He caught Mr. Blew’s hand, 
grasping it with all his feeble strength, 
and pouring over it a flood of grateful 
words only a few of which Mr. Blew 
understood. But he comprehended with- 
out words what was in the heart of the 
grateful wretch before him. 

“ Chi-co-la thank ! thank ! ” he kept 
saying over and over. “ Chi-co-la never 
forget ! Chi-co-la undo ! undo ! ” 

What was meant by the last words Mr. 
Blew could not divine, but he believed 
they had reference to a change Chi-co-la 
would make in his life. Perhaps he had 
been shiftless after all. He might even 
be given to the much drinking of rum. 
This, alas ! the white man’s rum, was 
known to be the ruin of many a poor 
Indian throughout the colony. 


CHAPTER IV 


THE JOURNEY UP THE RIVER 

With his own hands Mr. Blew helped 
Chi-co-la robe himself again in his buckskin 
shirt. The grateful Indian could not suffi- 
ciently express his gratitude. He followed 
Mr. Blew through the crowd, clinging to 
his hand, and pouring out the words that 
rushed from his heart. His cheeks were 
flushed with the emotion that glowed 
within him. Tears were in his eyes. In 
vain Mr. Blew sought to free himself from 
the Indian, to make him understand that 
he had already been thanked enough and 
more than enough. 

The children looked upon Chi-co-la with 
wondering eyes. They understood a part 
of what had happened, and knew that Mr. 


52 


THE JOURNEY UP THE RIVER 53 

Blew in some way had rescued him from 
the terrible flogging he had been about 
to receive. Much, too, of what Mr. Grim- 
ball had said had been comprehended by 
them. Oh, it was dreadful, Betty thought. 
No wonder the Indian women and chil- 
dren had stayed at home to-day. She was 
glad they had been spared the terrible 
sight, even if she, Betty, had not seen the 
babies. 

“ Poor man,” said Betty to Chi-co-la, “ I 
am glad that father saved you.” 

The Indian turned his head suddenly and 
looked at the little girl. Her voice had 
stirred something in his heart that made 
his lips tremble as his gaze went from her 
to her father. Then Chi-co-la did a strange 
thing. He laid his hand for a moment 
upon the soft, fair hair, and his lips trem- 
bled more than ever. His eyes, too, had a 
passion of pleading as he fastened them 
upon Mr. Blew. 


54 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


“ Undo ! undo ! Chi-co-la undo ! ” he 
said. 

Again Mr. Blew believed he had refer- 
ence to the change he would make in his 
manner of living. The sight of the in- 
nocent child, who had turned her eyes 
fearlessly upon him, who had received the 
contact of his hand without flinching, had 
no doubt stirred chords hitherto untouched. 
Her very innocence had awakened him to 
better things. 

“ Friend Chi-co-la,” said Betty, as she 
raised her eyes eagerly to his, “have you 
a little baby at your home ? ’Cause if you 
have, I want you to come and bring it to 
see us. Oh, I do so want to see a little 
Indian baby; but I want most of all to 
hold it myself and talk to it. We are go- 
ing up the wide, pretty river over there, 
that is called the Ashley, to a place that 
father says will have the same name as our 
old home, Dorchester. When we get there, 


THE JOURNEY UP THE RIVER 55 

I want you to come a-visiting us — be sure, 
now, and bring the baby.” 

She looked at him as though she fully 
expected to hear him make the promise ; 
but he, understanding only a word or so, 
stood and looked at her. Yet there was 
that which needed no speech, that which 
required no form of words, to make its 
meaning clear. It was the language of 
Betty’s heart speaking from her eyes, the 
language of kindness, of good-will. Above 
all, it was a language of trust. It stirred 
the deep things within Chi-co-la’s heart. 
Dear, true-hearted little Betty, how sur- 
prised she was to be when she learned what 
she did for Chi-co-la that day ! 

Mr. Blew’s friends, Captain John Godfrey 
and Mr. Peter Grimball, had tried to dis- 
suade him and others of the Dorchester 
colonists from going so far inland to make 
their settlement. The Indians were show- 
ing a certain restlessness of late that filled 


56 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


the white people with uneasiness. The ac- 
tions of the Kussoes had been particularly 
suspicious. In case of an uprising, the sit- 
uation of those remote from the forti- 
fications would be exceedingly perilous. 
Another danger that threatened was from 
the Spaniards at St. Augustine. They were 
likely at any moment to make one of their 
invasions. 

But Mr. Blew and others composing the 
hardy and courageous little band of settlers 
from Dorchester were quite firm in their 
determination to make their home at some 
little distance up the river. They wanted 
fertile fields for planting and pasture lands 
for cattle; and they desired, too, to be in 
the very heart of the wild country, where 
they could reach the poor, savage red man 
whose spiritual welfare had been one of the 
chief motives of their coming. 

“ We seek not our own benefit,” declared 
the Rev. John Lord, earnestly, “ but theirs. 


THE JOURNEY UP THE RIVER 57 

If peril befalls, then God will preserve us 
if it is His will the work should go on.” 

What more could a good Presbyterian 
say than that ? 

“Oh,” cried Betty, clapping her hands, 
“ isn’t this the loveliest river ? ” 

They had set sail again, and were now 
on the dark and softly gliding current of 
the Ashley. 

Yes, it was, and is a lovely river, with 
the noble trees lining its banks, the wide- 
spreading oak with its long festoons of 
moss, the stately pine, and the ever green 
cedar and myrtle with their luxurious foli- 
age. Now and then they had glimpses of 
marshes that looked like stretches of wav- 
ing prairies, so tail and fine was the grass. 
Wild ducks were circling overhead, while 
curlews, snipes, cranes, and the silver- 
plumed stork were wading in the shallow 
water along the edges of the marshes. 

At some points the river widened until 


58 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


it looked almost as a bay; at others the 
boughs of the noble oaks nearly met above 
them, yet always they found a depth of 
water sufficient for the safe sailing of the 
ships. But, oh, what a crooked river ! It 
seemed like a serpent winding backward 
over its own trail. Though the spot to 
which they were going was only twenty 
miles from Charles Town, yet by the river 
it was more than twice that distance. 

“ Look ! ” cried Betty, suddenly. “ Oh ! 
oh!” 

They had now come out on one of those 
portions of the river that resembled a bay. 
Some Indians in a long canoe hollowed out 
of a cypress log were crossing the stream. 
There were six of them. At first they 
seemed greatly frightened by the sudden 
appearance of the ships. Perhaps no others 
of this kind of craft had ever been so far 
up the river. But the Indians had doubtless 
at some time been in Charles Town, so the 


THE JOURNEY UP THE RIVER 59 

vessels themselves were not unfamiliar ob- 
jects. It was the men on the ships who 
doubtless caused them the alarm so clearly 
depicted. For what purpose were these 
strangers here? Why had the vessels 
come ? Could they bode any good ? These 
were plainly the questions the Indians were 
asking themselves. 

“ Poor things/' said Betty. “ They are 
frightened, and that, too, when they are all 
dressed up so brave and so fine in their 
warrior clothes. Let’s call to them and 
tell them we won’t hurt them. I’m sure 
I wouldn’t for anything.” 

She said this with so much innocence 
that her father felt that he must laugh. 
But, taking a second thought as he noted 
her earnest face, he did not. Instead he 
said in reply to her suggestion : — 

“They won’t understand us, for I fear 
they know little if any English.” 

“ Oh, it doesn’t take words to let people 


60 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


know you won’t hurt them/’ declared Betty. 
“ You can just look it, and they’ll feel it.” 

“ But they couldn’t see looks well enough 
at this distance to know what they meant,” 
said Mr. Blew again. 

He gave Betty a warm smile now. The 
little girl’s display of heart, her thoughtful- 
ness for others, always pleased him. 

“ Let’s fire off; a cannon and see what 
they will do,” said Charles. 

His mother looked at him reprovingly. 

“ Do you think they would be impressed 
then with our friendship, Charles ? ” 

“ Oh, I don’t know about the friendship, 
mother, but it certainly would make them 
think we had come prepared to take care 
of ourselves.” 

“ Would that be the right way, my son, 
to begin with people whose confidence we 
wanted to gain?” 

A shamed expression came upon Charles’s 
face. In order to hide it, he turned aside 


THE JOURNEY UP THE RIVER 61 

for some words to Winks, who, being a 
privileged passenger for this part of the 
journey, was now on deck, barking fu- 
riously at the Indians. Encouraged by the 
friendly gestures of those on board, they 
were now approaching the ship. 

Fortunately, our voyagers had brought 
an Indian interpreter with them from 
Charles Town. 

The Indians in the canoes proved to be 
Kiawhas. They were the hunters of their 
village, and had been off after venison. 
The bottom of the canoe was covered with 
the carcasses of the fine deer they had slain. 

The ships were brought to anchor, and 
the Indians drew alongside the one on 
which were the Blews. 

Then the conversation proceeded by 
means of the interpreter. Many questions 
had been asked and answered when a 
strange thing transpired. 

The Indians declared that the ships must 


62 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


not proceed another mile until their chief, 
the Cacique of Stono, had been notified. 
The voyagers were passing through his 
territory, and he would be cut to the heart 
if they went on without conferring with 
him, above all without partaking of the 
meal of peace. Yes, they must really stop 
where they were, the Indians persisted, 
until the Cacique could be summoned. 

When asked how long this would take, 
the reply came with much gravity, “Not 
until the following morning.” 

The captain of the other vessel fussed 
and fumed and declared it couldn’t be. 
Even quiet Captain Gabriel received the 
proposition with considerable irritation, 
pronouncing it a piece of folly. But 
there were those aboard both ships who 
counselled paying heed to the Indians. 
As the principal object they had in view 
was to win the good favor of the red 
men, it would not be well to begin by a 


THE JOURNEY UP THE RIVER 63 

direct disregard of tlieir wishes. Mr. Blew 
thought this counsel wise. 

“It is now well on in the afternoon/’ 
he said. “ We must soon stop somewhere 
for the night. As well here as anywhere, 
especially as the men assure us that they 
will leave three of their number to keep 
fires burning for us on the shore.” 

“ But do you not fear that this will prove 
a trap ? ” asked Mr. Boddey ; “ that they 
really mean us harm ? ” 

“ No, I think not,” Mr. Blew assured him. 
But somehow, despite his own confidence, 
while they waited through the long hours 
of the night, there in the midst of that wild, 
strange country, with the dark, sluggish 
current of the river gliding away beneath 
them, and the Indian fires burning on the 
banks, Mr. Blew more than once asked 
himself the question : — 

“ Have I done right to counsel this ? May 
not the Indians really mean us treachery ? ” 


* 


84 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


Ere she lay down for the night Betty 
bestowed her confidence upon Winks, be- 
sides telling him what was expected of him 
in the event an emergency did arise. 

“ Captain Gabriel isn’t so sure of the 
Indians, spite o’ what Mr. Hall and Mr. 
Holmes and father have said. I b’lieve he 
thinks they’ll come back in the night and 
attack us, and maybe kill us all. I know 
he is looking out for it. Now, Winkie, you 
must look out, too. If the Indians do 
sneak back on us, which would be mean of 
them, I must declare, then you must bark 
right out and let me know, and I’ll get up 
and make them a little talk, and I know 
they couldn’t hurt us after that.” 

Secure in this belief, of the power of the 
“ little talk” she would make the Indians 
right out of her heart, Betty fell asleep 
with Winks keeping guard not far away. 


CHAPTER V 


MISTRESS BETTY DINES IN STATE 

But no harm befell, and in the morning 
the Cacique appeared. He came heralded 
by his drummers and by his color-bearers, 
with the royal standard. This was con- 
structed principally of the tail feathers of 
the eagle on a groundwork of red cloth. 
Along the edges there was a border of vivid 
red. If battle were meant, this was left 
uncovered. If the king came on a peaceful 
mission, as at present, then this space was 
hidden by the white feathers of the crane. 
On this occasion not only did this white 
border of peace appear, but at the top of the 
standard a stuffed pigeon snow-white, and 
in its bill a sprig of cedar. This said that 
the chief came not only on an errand of 


65 


66 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


peace, but the friendship formed that day 
would remain ever green. 

The Cacique himself was resplendent in 
a robe covered with glittering beads and 
shells, with a deep collar of birds’ wings 
in green and gold. On his head was the 
bonnet of state, crowned by a tuft of snow- 
white pelican feathers. He did not carry 
a bow, as did those who attended him, but 
pendent from his belt of wampum was a 
bunch of arrows with their barbs removed. 
In his belt was also a knife, its blade broken 
in twain. 

Over the chief was borne a canopy of 
laurel leaves, its edges fringed with sprigs 
of cedar, with here and there clusters of the 
gleaming berries of the wax myrtle. 

Betty stood and gazed at this procession, 
her eyes shining, her heart beating loudly, 
her hands moving vigorously in her delight. 
While most of the children seemed afraid, 
for though the Cacique did not have his face 


MISTRESS BETTY DINES IN STATE 67 

painted the others did, and kept out oi 
sight behind their mothers or fathers, Betty 
stood as close to the edge of the deck as she 
could get. She even crept up under the 
very legs of big Captain Gabriel, who had 
been chosen as spokesman and leader. 

The captain felt the little hand clutch 
his clothing, and, looking down, saw Betty. 
He did not push her away, neither did he 
request that she be removed. Instead, he 
smiled, and reaching down, gave the sunny 
head a loving pat. 

“Well, Mistress Betty, what now?” he 
asked. “ Are you going to receive the 
Cacique yourself ? ” 

Then he smiled again. This time it was 
with a smile that went all over his face, and 
it made Captain Gabriel very handsome. 

“I am not afraid of him,” replied Betty 
with confidence. “ I don’t believe he would 
hurt a little girl like me, a great, big chief 
as he is. I know he wouldn’t, with you 


68 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


and father and all the rest here to see. Oh, 
Captain Gabriel, just see how his beads 
shine ! Beautiful ! beautiful ! ” 

Then to the dog : — 

“ Be still, Winks ! The chief won’t like 
you if you bark at him that way, and he 
won’t give you a single bear’s rib, as 
Captain Gabriel says he is sure to give 
us if we please him.” 

“ Ah, the very idea ! ” cried Captain 
Gabriel, suddenly. 

He smiled more than ever as he looked 
at Betty. 

“ I think Philip will permit it,” he added. 

Philip was Betty’s father. 

Then he said to Betty as gallantly as a 
lover : — 

“As I am to be master of ceremonies, 
I’ll name thee, Lady Betty, as mistress of 
state.” 

Betty did not just understand him, but 
she knew he had come to some decision 


MISTRESS BETTY DINES IN STATE 6 $. 

concerning her that pleased him very 
much, and that he was smiling at her 
because of it. So she smiled back at 
him, and held her place beside him with 
all the more assurance. 

“ Do you think you will be brave 
enough to speak to the Cacique, little 
one ? ” he asked now, bending down until 
his kindly face was very near to the 
sunny one upraised to him. “ Because if 
you are, I have the thought that it will 
please him very much; and who can tell 
what may come of it ? ” 

He said these words more to himself 
than to Betty. 

“ There will be the interpreter to tell 
him what you say,” he added, “and I 
think he will do very well with it.” 

“Yes, Captain Gabriel,” replied Betty to 
the first question he had asked her; “I 
am not afraid. I am sure I could speak 
to the Cacique.” 


70 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


“ Then you must come with me when 
I go in the boat, which will be presently. 
I will tell your father now, so that he 
will understand, and can speak to your 
mother. She must have no alarm ” 

When this was done, he continued 
speaking to Betty, who still kept close 
beside him, one warm little hand now 
closely clasped in his. 

“ After the Cacique has addressed us 
from the shore, he will, no doubt, send 
some of his men aboard. When they have 
held speech with us, they will request that 
certain of us return with them for the 
conference with the Cacique. Then it 
will be that I shall desire the company 
of Mistress Betty. Are you sure, now, 
little one, that you are not going to be 
frightened ? ” 

Her display of courage was so remark- 
able for a little girl, especially for one in 
a strange, wild land, that, although he 


MISTRESS BETTY DINES IN STATE 71 

knew Betty very well, he feared that after 
all, she might not be equal to what he 
desired. Our Betty was only nine years 
old at that time. 

“ No/’ said Betty, positively ; “ no, Cap- 
tain Gabriel, I shall not. You will see 
that I shall not be afraid.” 

“And what are you going to say to 
the Cacique, my Betty?” 

Betty glanced up at him quickly. There 
was a rare smile rippling over her lips. Her 
long lashes curled upward from her cheeks. 
Beneath them the eyes glowed radiantly. 

“ This is what I will say to him, Cap- 
tain Gabriel, 6 Good Master Cacique, it is 
very nice of you to let us pass through 
your land, and make our home in the 
place where, no doubt, your warriors love 
to hunt and can now hunt no more, 
’cause of the noise and the people that 
will be there, and even a little girl like 
me knows how to thank you.’ ” 


72 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


“ Bravo ! ” cried Captain Gabriel in de- 
light, as he raised her to the level of his 
face, so that a kiss might be imprinted 
on her cheek. 66 Bravo ! If you really 
say those words, Mistress Elizabeth, and in 
that way, no Cacique, if he were the sur- 
liest one that ever lived — which I do not 
believe this one is — could resist you. 
You will surely conquer him, my little 
Betty.” 

And that is exactly what happened. 
For when Betty, with those great truthful 
eyes of hers looked straight at the Ca- 
cique, and, without a single suggestion 
of fear in either face or tone, repeated 
the words as she had said them to 
Captain Gabriel, which the interpreter 
put into very good shape for her, the old 
chief’s heart was conquered as never 
before. 

When Betty had first appeared, holding 
tight to the hand of Captain Gabriel, the 


MISTRESS BETTY DINES IN STATE 73 

color flushing her cheeks, her eyes all 
ashine, and her fair hair rippling against 
her forehead, the chief had gazed upon 
her in curiosity and amazement. As she 
made her little speech to him, the wonder 
changed to delight. He looked at Betty, 
and Betty looked at him. In her heart, 
apart from the curiosity he excited, there 
was only the feeling of childish pleasure 
that he had received her so well. In his, 
something strange stirred, something he 
had never felt before. 

And what else do you think happened? 
Why, that, to the astonishment of all, 
even to that of Captain Gabriel himself, 
Betty was asked to sit down to the feast 
which certain of the chief’s attendants had 
begun to prepare at his direction. She 
was even to have the place of honor next 
to the Cacique. He had himself declared 
it was to be so. 

A platform was erected, and over it the 


74 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


laurel canopy stretched. On the platform 
skins were placed, and about them heaped 
branches of the magnolia, live-oak, laurel, 
and palm. In front of this seat of state 
were stretched mats woven of split cane 
and dyed many colors. On these the 
guests were to sit while partaking of the 
feast the Cacique was having prepared — 
the meal of peace, he called it. Yes, all 
were to sit there with the exception of 
Betty and Captain Gabriel. They were to 
occupy the post of honor on the platform 
beside the chief. Just to think of it! 
our little Betty Blew sitting down in state 
to dine with the great Cacique of Stono, 
the • only little girl in all the world, or 
woman either for that matter, who ever 
had done so, or ever did again. No won- 
der she never tired of telling it to the 
little boys and girls who called her mother 
and grandmother in the afterward days. 
It was a story worth the telling, was it 


MISTRESS BETTY DINES IN STATE 75 

not? Wouldn’t you, yourself, like to have 
heard her tell it? 

The feast consisted of venison stewed 
in bear’s oil, ribs of barbecued bear, fish 
wrapped in leaves and baked in the ashes, 
hominy, corn-cakes, and Indian yams. For 
drink they had honey and water seasoned 
with some aromatic herb. This was 
served from a large earthen bowl by 
means of a wooden ladle. The chief would 
take a drink from the ladle. Then he 
would offer it to one and another, but 
always he offered it first to Mistress 
Betty. 

“ Good ! good ! ” he would say when- 
ever he tasted it and passed it to her, and 
always her eyes answered him. 

“ Oh, Betty,” asked Charles afterward, 
“were you not terribly afraid sitting up 
there by the chief?” 

“ No,” declared Betty ; “ I was not 
afraid at all,” and she spoke truly. “He 
/ 


76 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


had such a sweet smile, I knew he could 
not hurt me.” 

Betty did not know that what she had 
taken for a smile was only a pleasant 
breaking up of the face. But no one 
had ever before seen the Cacique do even 
that much. He was a stern old warrior, 
but Betty had conquered him. I think 
it was her very fearlessness that won 
him. 

How sorry I am to spoil this pleasant 
record by the recital of the deed, or rather 
the misdeed, of one concerning whom I 
am sure you expected an altogether better 
account. This member of the family of 
Blew was no less a one than our four- 
footed friend, Master Winks. 

Now I have always thought that Master 
Winks’s deed did not follow upon inten- 
tion, but that it came really through the 
temptation of the moment. I am sure 
you will think so, too, when I have writ- 


MISTRESS BETTY DINES IN STATE 77 


ten the account as Winks himself would 
have liked me to write it. 

They were right in the midst of the 
feast, when suddenly there were sharp 
calls from the direction of the ships, a 
loud command from Charles ringing out 
above all, then the scurrying of feet, and 
a small black body sprang between the 
shoulders of Mr. Hall and Mr. Roddey, 
landing plump in the midst of the edibles. 
It was Winks. 

Now I have always thought, indeed, I 
am sure, that Winks, resenting the depar- 
ture of Betty without having been solicited 
to accompany her, and unable longer to 
endure her absence, was only desirous of 
getting to her, and that by the shortest 
route possible. But it so happened that 
Winks’s flying leap landed him directly 
beside a wooden bowl heaped high with 
the toothsome ribs of barbecued bear. It 
proved too much for Winks, whose nos- 


78 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


trils hadn’t been tickled by a smell so 
delightful for many a long day. In an 
instant, forgetting his good name, his rear- 
ing, forgetting the honor of his family, 
everything, he made a dive at the bowl, 
abstracting therefrom one of the largest 
and juiciest of the ribs. 

There were instant cries of indignation, 
a chorus of shouts hurled at the dog. 
One of the Indians seized him, and it 
would no doubt have gone very hard with 
poor Winks, since he had been guilty of 
so grievous an offence as breaking in 
upon a meal of state in this rude way. 
But the presence of mind of his little 
mistress saved him. 

“ Oh, please, good Master Cacique,” she 
said, “ don’t let them hurt him. He is 
my dear dog, and he didn’t mean to be 
so naughty, I know he didn’t. He’s just 
forgotten himself. Oh, please ’scuse him, 
and tell the Indian man to let him come 


MISTRESS BETTY DINES IN STATE 70 

here and I’ll make him say to you that 
he’s sorry.” 

Gestures were added to the words, so 
that the chief understood in part if he 
did not wholly. But there was no need 
to call to the man to release the dog, for, 
at sound of Betty’s call he had plunged 
toward her with such force as to free 
himself. However, when he reached her 
he did not hold up his head and wag his 
tail as usual. Instead ; he had a dejected 
air. Already Winks realized what he had 
done. He could see plainly by the look 
in Betty’s eye that she was not pleased 
with him. 

He dropped the bone at once, but at 
her command, accompanied by a gesture 
or two, he picked it up again, and, ad- 
vancing slowly, laid it humbly at the feet 
of the Cacique. Then sitting erect upon 
his haunches, with his fore paws extended 
and curved over in the most beseeching 


80 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


attitude, he looked alternately at the 
chief and the bone at his feet. He said 
as plainly as a little dog could say who 
had no words at his command: — 

“ I have been naughty. I know it. 
Will you please ’scuse me, sir?” 

The chief grunted his approval. He was 
plainly pleased, astonished, too, by the 
little dog’s performance. There were many 
expressions of delight from the Indians 
who hadn’t so much dignity to preserve 
as the chief. Winks had plainly made a 
great impression. Because of it his theft 
was no longer remembered against him. 

The chief would have given Winks his 
bear’s rib again, but Betty said no. He 
had been guilty of great naughtiness, and 
he must be punished. This reflection 
upon the family honor could not be 
passed by unnoticed. So Winks went 
hungry through the remainder of the 
meal. He looked very miserable sitting 


MISTRESS BETTY DINES IN STATE 81 


there beside his mistress with the great, 
juicy bear’s rib almost under his nose. 
But he made no effort to touch it. He 
had disgraced his family enough already. 
He must redeem himself now. But there 
is the record that Betty carried that same 
bear’s rib with her to the ship, and that 
there Winks was permitted to enjoy it, 
while he listened to a very grave and ear- 
nest admonition as to what was expected 
of well-raised folks when they went 
abroad. 

On parting with Betty the Cacique had 
bestowed upon her the hoof of a deer 
beautifully mounted with silver. There 
were some curious marks upon it, which 
Captain Gabriel afterward said he be- 
lieved had some meaning. Attached to it 
was also a chain of silver by means of 
which it could be worn about the neck. 


CHAPTER VI 


DOM-BE-DI-E-TY AND THE BABY 

Bidding farewell to the Cacique and 
his men, the anchor was raised, and the 
two ships stood again on their way up 
the river. In a few hours more the voy- 
agers had come in sight of their future 
home. Here, also, they found Indians to 
welcome them, for the Cacique had sent 
runners ahead, and, as the course by land 
was not more than half so far as that by 
water, the runners had had no trouble in 
arriving there before the Colonists. They 
had killed several wild turkeys on the 
way, and a part of these they generously 
offered their white friends, together with 
Indian yams, dried pease, and some pouches 
of Indian corn which they had obtained 
from their storehouses as they came along. 


D OM-BE-DI-E- T Y AND THE BABY 83 


There were women with these Indians 
— and — yes, really and truly, Indian ba- 
bies ! Betty almost screamed out in her 
delight as she saw them. How she longed 
to have her hands on the chubby little 
things ! She wanted to squeeze them — 
squeeze them real hard, for that was one 
way our Betty had of showing her love. 
She had made mother and father and 
Aunt Joan gasp many times with her 
“ hug-a-bears,” as she called these love 
squeezes. 

Her eyes were dancing, her heart going 
pit-a-pat as she flew now straight to the 
first Indian woman who carried a baby. 
She was rather an ill-looking woman, with 
a puckered-up forehead, a grim expression 
about the lips, and fierce black eyes, the 
gaze of which wandered about restlessly. 
The mother love had not sweetened pool 
Dom-be-di-e-ty. 

The women carried their babies in board 


84 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


cradles upon their backs. Above the 
A mother’s shoulders the ends of the cradle 
stuck out like great horns. In a buck- 
skin pouch, fastened across these wooden 
supports, and in shape like the toe of a 
slipper, nestled the baby as snug as a bug 
curled up in a rug. 

Straight to Dom-be-di-e-ty flew Betty, 
and began chattering away in the sweet- 
est English of which she was the pos- 
sessor. 

But Dom-be-di-e-ty understood not a 
word. Neither did she understand the 
language of love which Betty’s eyes spoke 
so plainly. One thing, however, Dom-be- 
di-e-ty did understand, and that was that 
Betty wanted to touch the baby. At first 
the mother was afraid to let the little 
girl come near enough, for she did not 
know what harm might be intended. The 
white people, she had been taught, despite 
their fair ways and friendly looks, were 


DOM-BE-DI-E-TY AND THE BABY 85 


not always to be trusted. Perhaps this 
little girl, as gentle as she seemed, might 
want to pinch the baby, or to poke her 
fingers in its eyes, or to do it some other 
hurt. So she drew away every time Betty 
sought to approach. As it was necessary 
for Betty to pass behind Dom-be-di-e-ty 
ere she could lay hand upon the baby, it 
was very comical to see them bobbing back 
and forth about each other like two corks 
on the water, — Betty trying to reach the 
baby, and Dom-be-di-e-ty preventing her 
every time. 

At length, however, she seemed to lose 
her fear of Betty. Perhaps she had at 
last read aright the language of Betty’s 
eyes. 

She looked steadily at Betty, then sud- 
denly knelt, exclaiming, “ Yi ! yi!” 

This meant plainly, “ Come ! come ! w so 
Betty thought. At least she did not wait 
to weigh a doubt in her mind, but pounced 


86 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


upon the baby with a little gurgling cry 
of delight. She patted its cheeks. She 
played with the stiff little scalp-lock that 
had wandered down over its forehead. 
She rubbed her fingers across the wee, 
pudgy nose, and finally pressed two loving 
ones upon the warm mouth. Then, with 
arch movement, she placed the same fin- 
gers upon her own lips and kissed them 
with great relish. 

She would far rather have given the 
baby this caress direct ; but having said 
once, in the presence of her father, that 
she intended to kiss the first Indian baby 
she could lay lip on, he had warned her 
not to do this. The Indians were very 
superstitious, he had told her. If she 
placed her lips upon the baby’s lips or to 
its cheek, the parents would think she 
sought to breathe a bad spirit into it, and 
it would make them very angry. Thus 
Betty refrained now, though her heart was 


DOM-BE-DI-E-TY AND THE BABY 87 

nearly bursting with the desire to kiss this 
chubby baby. 

The mother was evidently won by 
Betty’s rapture over the baby. She saw 
plainly now that this fair-haired little 
girl desired to be very friendly. She saw 
something, too, of Betty’s desire in her 
eyes. 

She made an effort to smile, but never 
having learned the art, this attempt was 
but little more than a failure. However, 
Betty understood what it meant, and she 
smiled back in return, — a radiant smile 
that it seemed must warm all the winter 
day about them. 

“ Pretty baby! pretty baby!” cried 
Betty. “ Oh, you little dearie dear ! ” 

She extended her arms to him as though 
she would embrace cradle and all. 

“ Pretty ! pretty ! ” echoed the mother. 

It was one of the few English words 
she knew. But she did not speak it with 


88 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


reference to the baby. It was intended 
for Betty. With the color coming and 
going upon her cheeks, the hair lying in 
soft rings about her forehead, and her 
eyes looking as though they had caught 
their light from a whole shower of stars, 
she was indeed a picture lovely to behold. 
Her appearance made a deep impression 
upon the Indian woman. In all her life 
she had never seen anything so fair. 

The mother had now thrown from her 
neck the buckskin strap that held the 
cradle in place, and Was standing with the 
great horns of the cradle resting against 
her. This put Master Baby very near 
the ground. Noticing this, Betty was not 
slow to prostrate herself before his maj- 
esty, still gurgling and cooing to him, and 
saying all manner of sweet things in a 
language he understood full well, because 
he carried the key of it in his heart. 

Dom-be-di-e-ty thawed out more and 


D OM-BE-DI-E- T Y AND THE BABY 89 

more under the warmth of Betty’s admira- 
tion for the baby. She placed the horns 
of the cradle against the broad trunk of 
a water-oak, and, squatting in front of 
it, began to unlace the buckskin strings 
that held Master Baby up to his chin 
hard and fast in his slipper-toe pouch. 
She unlaced him until he had his stout 
little fists free. No sooner was this free- 
dom given him than he began to tug 
manfully at Betty’s soft lovelocks. What 
a lusty brave he would make when he 
started out on the war-path ! 

But this rough treatment did not discon- 
cert Betty in the least. She only laughed 
as he pulled the harder, and gave him 
tug for tug as the game of clasping and 
unclasping fingers was played to a good- 
natured finish. 

Another woman approached, making 
gestures to Dom-be-di-e-ty. She evidently 
wanted to talk with her apart. 


90 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


A sudden thought struck Betty. She 
could never tell what prompted her to such 
an undertaking. Certain it was that our 
little girl was not instigated by any spirit 
of mischief. 

She would show the baby to mother and 
Aunt Joan. How delighted they would 
be to see it ! to hold it in their arms ! 
Babies were the sweetest things in the 
world, both had declared. Surely, thought 
Betty, they would think this roly-poly 
fellow with his twinkling black eyes and 
his wee dumpling-like face one among the 
sweetest. 

Dom-be-di-e-ty was some steps away ear- 
nestly engaged in the inspection of an 
article to which the other woman had 
called her attention. Evidently she trusted 
Betty fully now, since she had left the 
baby in her care. 

With swift, deft fingers Betty contin- 
ued the work Dom-be-di-e-ty had begun of 


D OM-BE-DI-E- T Y AND THE BABY 91 


unlacing the buckskin thongs. There ! 
Master Baby was quite free now. 

He gave a little gurgle of delight, and, 
throwing up his arms, clasped them about 
Betty’s neck. He was as pleased to be 
free as she was to have him at last in her 
arms. How she hugged him ! If he had 
been less sturdy, he would have assuredly 
cried out. 

He was not a large baby. Despite his 
chubby face, his limbs were small, even 
wizened. Thus Betty did not. find him 
a heavy burden. 

Down went the board cradle, and away 
sped Betty as fast as she could with the 
weight of the baby in her arms. 

There was a beautiful bluff on the river 
at this point, and the ships had been 
anchored directly opposite to it. Most 
of the men and several of the women and 
children had come ashore in the long-boats. 
The former were now gathered under the 


92 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


oaks, where a conference was being held 
with the Indians. Near by, in a little 
group, were the women and children, 
watching with deep interest the novel 
scenes transpiring around them. 

Betty knew just where she had left her 
mother and Aunt Joan, seated on the 
fallen log against the trunk of the great 
oak. 

On sped Betty, heading for the spot, 
the baby clasped tightly in her arms. 
But now he had begun to yell lustily, for 
evidently he did not understand this swift 
motion on the part of one who only a 
few moments before had won his gratitude 
by giving him freedom from his stiff board 
cradle. 

The baby’s cries attracted his mother’s 
attention. She looked around quickly. 
The next instant a whoop of anger escaped 
her. In a twinkling, as it were, she had 
her conception of the scene. The little 



On sped Betty, and faster and faster came 1)om-be-di-e-ty 

Page 93 



DOM-BE-DI-E-TY AND THE BABY 93 

fair-haired English girl had stolen her 
baby ! What else could it mean ? For 
had she not released him from the cradle, 
and was she not now making oft with him 
as fast as she could ? 

With a bound the mother started in 
pursuit, at almost every step giving vent 
to cries of indignation and anger. She 
shouted, too, to Betty to stop. 

Betty did not hear her at first. When 
she did, and turned around for a view of 
Dom-be-di-e-ty, the appearance of the 
Indian mother and her cries and gesticu- 
lations so disturbed Betty that her one 
thought was to reach her mother and 
Aunt Joan ere Dom-be-di-e-ty reached her. 
Once safe with them, she could then 
have their help to explain all to Dom-be- 
di-e-ty. 

On sped Betty, and faster and faster 
came Dom-be-di-e-ty. She gained swiftly 
upon the little girl, so swiftly that in a 


94 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


small space of time she was almost up 
with her. 

Others were now gazing upon the 
strange race. Very few there were who 
did not understand it from the moment 
that their eyes rested upon it. For Betty’s 
desire to see and to have hold of an Indian 
baby was well known. Charles and Caro- 
line had talked about it until it had become 
something of a joke. 

There were those who looked upon the 
scene now simply with amusement, but 
there were others to whom it gave serious 
disturbance. Whatever was Betty’s inten- 
tion, and they could not believe it anything 
but an innocent one, she had beyond doubt 
deeply angered the mother. What grievous 
consequences might yet come of it ! 

“ Put down the baby quickly ! ” shouted 
Captain Gabriel to Betty. 

She did not hear him. For not only 
was he some distance away, but at that 


D OM-BE-DI-E- T Y AND THE BABY 95 

moment the blood was beating so in her 
head from the exertion she had made that 
it sounded like the roar of many waters. 

She was staggering now ; for, what with 
the swift running and the weight of the 
baby, our little Betty was on the verge 
of falling from exhaustion. 

In that moment Dom-be-di-e-ty reached 
her. She threw a swift hand upon Betty’s 
shoulder. She shook her roughly, muttering 
words of anger mingled with threats. The 
tones told Betty the meaning without 
knowledge of the words. 

So roughly did Dom-be-di-e-ty shake Betty 
that the little girl’s arms relaxed, and, ere 
she could prevent it, down tumbled the 
baby on the sand. 

Strange to say, Dom-be-di-e-ty made no 
movement to recover it. She was too in- 
tent with Betty. She merely looked around 
to motion to another woman, who was 
approaching, to pick up the baby. 


96 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


Then, with quick movement, she seized 
Betty, and, throwing her upon her shoulder, 
as she so often threw the deer her husband 
slew, she started with her at a brisk run 
toward the river. 

“ After her, men ! ” shouted Captain 
Gabriel. “ She means mischief.” 

“ Oh, my poor child ! ” cried Betty’s 
mother, and started up as though she, too, 
would join in the pursuit. 

But Aunt Joan caught her and held her. 
Her own face had turned a dead white, and 
her heart was beating so it almost suffocated 
her ; but she knew she must keep cool for 
her sister’s sake as well as for her own. 
Besides, she realized that whatever hope 
there was for Betty lay in the swift feet 
and determined spirits of the men who had 
now started to the rescue. 

But the woman was many paces ahead of 
them, and she was now speeding straight 
toward the river. 


DOM-BE-DI-E-TY AND THE BABY 97 

Aunt Joan shut her eyes, while a prayer 
went straight up from her heart to the 
Almighty One. 

As swift as were the other men, Captain 
Gabriel was swifter. From the moment 
of the start he took the lead, and he held 
it. 

“ Stop ! ” he cried to the woman. “ Stop ! 
stop! We J ll make it all right with you.” 

But his tones had no effect upon her, 
though the pleading was unmistakable. 
She seemed possessed by a very demon of 
anger that urged her steadily on toward 
the deed she contemplated. 

On she sped toward the river, the point 
for which she had headed being some dis- 
tance below the bluff where the council had 
been in progress. The river made a curve 
here, so decided a one that it was like a 
half circle. Thus the spot selected by 
the woman was much nearer to her than 
to those on the bluff. 


98 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


It was only a few paces away now, while 
several paces behind her came the panting 
men. 

With a littie whoop of defiance she re- 
doubled her efforts and leaped toward the 
bank. 

She had reached it now and stood for a 
moment as though bracing herself. Then 
her arms flew upward, and between them 
tightly grasped was our poor little Betty. 
She made no effort to struggle. Had she 
done so, it would have been harder for the 
woman. She was either dazed by what 
had happened, or she had no conception of 
what the woman designed. 

“ Hold ! ” cried Captain Gabriel. “ No 
harm was intended the baby. Hold, 
woman ! Let us explain. Fiend ! ” he 
added frantically, “you can’t really be 
going to do what you seem.” 

As though to answer him, the woman at 
that very moment swung her arms back- 


DOM-BE-DI-E-TY AND THE BABY 99 


ward, then forward, and with a force that 
sickened the hearts of the men who felt so 
powerless at that moment, Betty was hurled 
far out into the deep, dark current of the 
river. 

It seemed to Captain Gabriel then that 
the strength of two men was lent to him. 
He never knew how he managed to move 
over the ground as he did. But as swift 
as he was, our little Betty had sunk beneath 
the waves twice ere he reached her. The 
brave, big captain made heroic battle for 
Betty’s life, and'he won. 

“It was a close call for thee, my little 
one,” he said as he bore her in his arms to 
the mother whose heart was well-nigh to 
breaking because of the strain that had been 
put upon it. 

But Betty answered him never a word, 
because that she could not. She lay like a 
crushed flower against his breast. 

But later, when she heard the exclama- 


LoFC. 


100 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


tions and threats against Dom-be-di-e-ty, she 
revived sufficiently to plead for her. 

“ Don’t hurt her,” she begged. “ Oh, 
father, don’t let them ; please, please ! It 
was all my fault. I angered her so. She 
thought I meant to steal the baby. I 
ought to have told her what I wanted to 
do.” 

And Betty’s spirit of forgiveness, which 
is the spirit of love, prevailed. 


CHAPTER VII 


SIR THOMAS 

Two days later they began the erection 
of the fort. Until that was ready to be 
occupied, they would live aboard the ships. 
When they had the protection of the fort, 
then they would lay out and build their 
village. 

Though the Indians had so far proven 
friendly, and those in the neighborhood 
were likely to continue so, there was 
always danger to be apprehended. The 
greatest trouble was to be expected from 
the Spaniards at St. Augustine and the 
French on the Mississippi, both of whom 
had endeavored to arouse the Indians 
against the white settlers in Carolina. 


102 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


Especially were the Spaniards enemies 
of the Carolinians. They deeply resented 
their settling on land which they declared 
belonged to Spain. They were alert to at- 
tack at every opportunity, and had again 
and again sought to instigate the Indians to 
massacre. Serious trouble had come of it, 
lives had been lost, and more than once 
the settlers on the outlying plantations had 
been forced to flee to Charles Town and the 
protection of the forts. 

So the fort was constructed first of all, 
and such was the care and skill employed 
by these sturdy pioneers that their work 
yet abides. 

They built their walls of coquina, a mass 
of sand, gravel, and crushed shells, mixed 
with water. When it hardens, the lime 
that is in the shells holds all together like 
mortar. 

The fort had two bastions. Each com- 
manded a view of the river, which here 


SIR THOMAS 


103 


makes a sharp bend. The site was a noble 
one on an eminence, crowned by beautiful 
live-oaks draped with long streamers of 
gray moss, and by stately pines that shot 
upward to such heights that Betty said 
she believed they could almost peep into 
heaven. She often wished she could climb 
to their tops. She was sure that she could 
then look through the sky and see the beau- 
tiful things beyond. 

Some of these magnificent trees had 
to be felled to make space for the fort. 
Over this Betty cried, not only because the 
noble pines and oaks themselves had to be 
laid low, but she was afraid, she said, that 
some of the poor birds would look for their 
homes and never find them again. 

As the days passed on without event save 
for the visits oi friendly Indians, and as 
there was still no indication of trouble 
from expected foes, the children were given 
more liberty. They were allowed to play 


104 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


on the beautiful banks that sloped down 
from the fort to the river. They never 
tired of building mounds of the fallen 
leaves and pine cones. These, they pre- 
tended, were forts, and furious were the 
bombardments to which they were sub- 
jected with sticks and bits of oyster shells 
as implements of war. Greatly to their 
disappointment, no stones were to be found 
at their new home. 

Betty was one of the few children 
who did not take much interest in 
this warlike pastime. She spent a large 
part of her play hour in constructing 
boats of pine which she sent down the 
river laden with messages for those who 
had been left in the old home at 
Dorchester. 

At other times she would talk to the 
birds, pitying them with all her heart, for 
they looked so disconsolate, waiting for the 
spring. She tried to cheer them. Again 


SIR THOMAS 


105 


she would scold them for moping. They 
might at least be singing, she would tell 
them. The song was in their throat, and 
it was a shame to keep it there, when there 
were those waiting to hear it whose hearts 
would be made glad when it came. 

“ Birds no more’n people’s got any busi- 
ness to sulk and mope when things don’t 
suit ’em,” said Betty, “ ’specially if it makes 
others feel bad to see ’em. People ought 
to be smiling and birds ought to be singing 
whether they want to or not. It’s what 
Aunt Joan calls a duty. A duty’s what 
you do to another that you don’t like so 
much to do, yet that makes you happy 
when it’s done. Anyway, that’s how I 
look at it.” 

To ‘Betty the flecks of sunlight that 
flitted here and there over the leaves were 
living things. They whispered to each 
other as they came together, and when 
they grew very much agitated, which was 


106 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


often the case, they were assuredly gossip- 
ing, Betty declared. When they bobbed 
here and there, then it was scandal they 
were talking, she was sure. She often 
scolded them roundly for being so wicked 
as to talk about their neighbors. 

“ It is one of the worstest sins you could 
have,” Betty declared, “to talk about your 
neighbors, ’specially when they can’t be 
present to answer back to you.” 

Do you not think she was right ? 

In some respects our little Betty was a 
dreamer. Her mind was often filled with 
beautiful fancies. But for all this, she was 
really very practical when it came to action. 
She loved the woods, the trees, the flowers. 
Each had a voice of its own, each its story 
to tell, to which she gave delighted listen- 
ing. She loved, too, the little animals that 
dwelt in the woods, sometimes hidden away 
where even her sharp eyes could not find 
them, or again they would scamper across 


SIR THOMAS 


107 


the leaves as though they were afraid she 
would lay rough fingers upon them. One 
fast friend she made, however, soon after 
coming to her new home. This was a dear 
little gray squirrel with bright, restless eyes 
and a beautiful fluffy tail. He was the 
source of constant admiration. Betty 
called him Sir Thomas Gray, after a friend 
of her father in England. His gray coat 
had suggested it. 

Sir Thomas soon grew so that he knew 
Betty’s step. He would emerge from his 
hole in the great oak even before her cheery 
call sounded. He would scamper out on a 
limb, spring nimbly to the ground, and 
make his way swiftly to Betty. Then he 
would* run up her dress and seat himself 
expectantly upon her shoulder. Well he 
knew what she had in her hand for him. 
If the kernels of corn were not quickly 
forthcoming, then he would poke his sharp 
little nose around into her face and make 


108 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


believe he was about to nibble her nose. 
This always made Betty laugh. 

“I’m sure he’s not going to hurt me,” 
she would say. “ He loves me, and knows 
that I love him. People who love don’t 
hurt each other, or if they do without 
meaning to, then they cry about it and 
ask to be forgiven, and when they do this, 
it doesn’t hurt any more. I am sure, now, 
Sir Thomas would cry if he hurt me, just 
the same as I should cry if I hurt him,” 
and she looked into the little glittering eyes, 
almost expecting to see the tears in answer 
to her words. But, of course, if Sir Thomas 
hadn’t hurt her, where would be the need 
of his crying ? 

He was a sly rogue, this Sir Thomas. 
He knew that Betty’s coming meant also 
the coming of the kernels of corn he loved 
so well. So his pretence at nibbling her 
nose was but to remind her of the corn he 
expected. But, despite this looking out for 


SIR THOMAS 


109 


himself, he was really attached to the little 
girl. If this had not been true, I should be 
ashamed to introduce Sir Thomas to you. 

One evening Betty’s Bible verse, ere she 
was tucked into bed, was, “ Love one 
another.” 

“ What does that mean, dear ? ” Aunt 
Joan asked her. 

“ It means this, Aunt Joan, that I must 
love Sir Thomas and he must love me. He 
is ( one’ and I am ‘ another.’ ” 

“ Why, who is Sir Thomas ? ” asked 
Aunt Joan, for she had not as yet made 
the acquaintance of so distinguished a per- 
sonage. 

“ Sir Thomas, Aunt Joan,” said Betty, 
very gravely, “is a gentleman in gray, a 
line little gentleman, and he has the bright- 
est eyes and the cunningest ways.” 

“ A little gentleman in gray ? Why, 
I’ve seen none such about here. Of all the 
gentlemen I know, not one has a suit that’s 


110 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


gray. Now how is this, my Betty, that I 
haven’t yet made the acquaintance of so 
fine a little gentleman ? ” 

“ I ’spect, Aunt Joan,” said Betty, look- 
ing very wise, “ it’s because you haven’t 
been where he lives.” 

“And where does this fine little gentle- 
man in gray live ? ” 

“In a sky house, Aunt Joan.” 

“ In a sky house ? Oh, now I see. It 
has a fine roof of green leaves, and moss 
curtains hang before its doors.” 

“ Yes ! yes ! ” cried Betty. “ Oh, Aunt 
Joan, how well you know!” 

“And there are avenues leading away 
from it, great, splendid avenues that spread 
out in every direction. Along these Sir 
Thomas takes his walks on days that are 
fine.” 

“ Oh, aunt ! Sure enough, he does.” 

Betty clapped her hands now. Her eyes 
were dancing with delight. How did 


SIR THOMAS 


111 


Aunt Joan know so well about Sir 
Thomas ? 

“ It is from one of these fine avenues/’ 
continued Aunt Joan, “ that Sir Thomas 
watches for my Betty when she makes him 
her visits, or if he wants to be very coy, he 
will scamper back to the door of his home and 
peep out from behind his curtains of moss.” 

Betty had thrown the covering back, and 
was sitting straight up in bed now. Her 
eyes were like two globes of light. 

“Oh, Aunt Joan!” she cried, “do you 
know — have you seen Sir Thomas?” 

Aunt Joan’s eyes were sparkling, too, as 
she leaned nearer Betty. 

“ No, darling, I haven’t seen Sir Thomas, 
but — ” 

“But what, Aunt Joan, dear?” 

“Only this night as I was undressing 
my Betty I found this between her ker- 
chief and the little fish-bone fastening Chi- 
co-la made for her.” 


112 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


As she spoke she held near to the small 
wax candle on the stand, and in plain view 
of Betty, a soft, downy object. 

Betty looked for one moment straight 
upon it. Then a little squeal of delight 
came from her. And no wonder, for the 
tiny object was nothing less than a bit of 
fur from Sir Thomas’s fluffy tail ! 

“ Oh, aunt ! ” she cried, “ and so that was 
how you knew ? ” 

“ Yes, my Betty,” replied Aunt Joan, and 
she tried very hard to make her lips steady 
now, “ that was how I knew.” 


CHAPTER VIII 
betty’s letter 

Mr. Peter Timothy, postmaster at 
Charles Town, had kindly sent notice up 
the river that the good ship Charming 
Mary would sail in a week’s time for 
Boston, carrying written messages of what- 
ever form or nature desired, provided each 
was accompanied by the proper amount for 
its transmission. 

As it had now been four months since 
the pilgrims had left their home in Massa- 
chusetts, and as, in all that time, they had 
not been enabled to forward any communi- 
cation to the expectant loved ones and 
friends in the old home, it was no wonder 
that this news from Master Timothy was 
hailed with the greatest delight. Old and 


113 


114 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


young were alike excited by it. Caroline 
declared that she had so many letters to 
write she knew she would never get through 
with them. When her father reminded 
her that as each required its own fee for 
transmission, and that if she wrote even 
half so many as she threatened, she would 
quite ruin him financially, she at last de- 
cided to write only one, and let that do 
for the dozen or more girl friends she had 
had in mind. They could hand it around 
from one to another. 

“ To whom will you write, Betty ? ” asked 
Charles. 

“Oh, that is a secret,” said Betty, and 
she looked at him archly. 

“ I think you might tell me.” 

“ No, Master Blab ; for you'd tell it as 
soon as you knew it.” 

Charles looked aggrieved. 

“You know I wouldn’t do that,” he said. 

“ But you would. You just can't keep a 


BETTY'S LETTER 


115 


thing. You have the wriggles till you tell 
all you know.” 

“Now, Mistress Elizabeth, don’t be so 
hard on your dear brother.” 

“ I am not hard on you. You tell things 
on yourself just as quickly as on anybody 
else. I s’pose it’s ’cause you just cant 
keep ’em.” 

“ I don’t see any need o’ being so myste- 
rious over a letter,” grumbled Charles. 

“ I do,” declared Betty. 

She looked at Charles again with a pro- 
voking little twinkle of the eye. Then, 
making him a mocking bow, she ran 
quickly away, for she was afraid that if 
she stayed longer, she would just have to 
tell him. 

Others besides Charles had curiosity con- 
cerning Betty’s letter, for she had openly 
announced that she intended to send one. 

“ Will our Betty really have a letter to 
go with the others?” asked Aunt Joan on 


116 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


the day preceding the one that the messages 
were to be forwarded to Charles Town. 

“ Yes, Aunt Joan, I’ll have one.” 

“ For whom will our Betty’s letter be ? ” 

Betty hesitated a moment, then she said, 
“ I will tell you, aunt, but, oh, please don’t 
tell Charles.” 

“ Why not tell Charles, Betty ? ” 

“ ’ Cause, aunt, he will tease me so. He 
is always saying that I am very silly about 
Harriet.” 

“ So the letter is for Harriet Brewster, 
is it, my Betty? ” asked Aunt Joan with a 
smile. “ Yes, aunt, dear, it is to Harriet.” 

But Betty said no more, neither did she 
come to Aunt Joan for the help with the 
letter that Aunt Joan expected she would. 
For it was Betty’s first letter, and, of 
course, the preparation of it would be a 
toilsome task. She would hardly attempt 
it alone, her aunt thought. But she did. 
However, after the sheet had been folded 


BETTY'S LETTER 


117 


and sealed, she brought it to her aunt 
that the address might be written. 

“Did you tell Harriet many things?” 
asked Aunt Joan. 

“Yes, aunt, I told her a whole sheet 
full.” 

As Betty did not seem disposed to give 
further confidence, Aunt Joan did not 
press her. 

So Betty’s letter went with the others; 
but as the little maid continued very mys- 
terious about it, and as she would answer 
neither Caroline’s nor Charles’s questions 
concerning it, this tantalized them so they 
began to tease her unmercifully. 

Finally, the younger ones making such 
ado with reference to Betty’s letter, the 
older ones found themselves speculating 
as to what could have been in the mis- 
sive about which Betty was so mysterious. 

“What did my little maid say to Har- 
riet?” her father asked her one day. 


118 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


Betty looked away from him, then she 
faltered, “ I don’t know, sir.” 

Thinking she meant to say that she did 
not remember, he repeated : — 

“You don’t know , my dear? You mean 
that you have forgotten. Is not this what 
you intend to say?” 

“No, sir, I really don’t know, ’cause I 
didn’t read it, father.” 

“ Didn’t read it ! ” he echoed. 

Then he threw back his head, and oh, 
how he laughed ! 

After a while he began to question 
Betty, and this is what he found out: she 
did not know how to form some of the 
words she wanted to write. So every one 
seeming to be too busy to help her, and 
besides writing being but a slow and labo- 
rious task to our little Betty, she had de- 
cided to get on by adopting a plan of her 
own. Thus she had covered the sheet with 
many wavering lines and curling marks 


BETTY’S LETTER 


119 


of her own invention. No wonder she 
had not read it over. 

Poor Betty ! She had to stand a perfect 
fire of teasing after that. But hers was 
too sweet a nature to take it crossly. 

It was the knowledge that came to her 
of Betty’s letter that decided Aunt Joan to 
delay no longer the opening of the school 
that had for some time been planned for 
the children of the settlement. Betty, at 
least, was shockingly in need of it, if none 
of the others were. 

A portion of the fort was now com- 
pleted, and while there was not enough 
living room for all, still many persons 
could be made comfortable within those 
strong walls. 

The main entrance to the fort faced 
the village. It gave the inhabitants quick 
access to it in the event that they had 
to flee for their lives. This entrance led 
into a wide hall with deep walls, used as 


120 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


a general assembly room. All gathered 
here for social intercourse. It was also 
the place where religious services were 
held until the church could be erected. 
There was a large fireplace enclosed by 
settles, and around the walls stands for 
arms. Light was let into the apartment 
by means of two rows of small windows, 
not much more than port-holes. 

Around the inner space of the fort there 
were other apartments, but much smaller 
than this main one. In one of these Aunt 
Joan opened her school. It would have 
been dreadful in war times, the children 
thought, to have been shut up in this 
close room, with only a poor light to fall 
upon the pages of the books. But as it 
was now the season of peace, and all out 
of doors the sun was shining as though 
the light he gave was made of pure gold, 
it was a delight even for little scholars 
hard at work to sit in the open court. 


BETTY’S LETTER 


121 


Aunt Joan was a sweet teacher, so the 
children thought. I know that she had a 
sweet temper, for all the records of those 
days tell me so ; and as the most formi- 
dable implement of correction she was ever 
known to use was a small cedar twig, I 
am fully convinced that the records were 
correct. 

Aunt Joan looked as sweet as she was. 
She had soft dark eyes and hair to match 
them, which shone as though she polished it 
with sticks of ivory every morning. And 
she had the dearest mouth and chin. How 
nice it was to have Aunt Joan kiss you, 
or to kiss Aunt Joan ! Betty believed her 
the loveliest person in the world next to 
her mother. Somehow, she felt that Cap- 
tain Gabriel, too, thought Aunt J oan lovely, 
for she had seen him looking at her in a 
way that said it plainly enough. 

The favorite costume of this dear Aunt 
Joan was a dark blue gown, which fitted 


122 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


her as beautifully, Charles declared, as the 
bluebird’s robe of feathers fitted him. Cer- 
tainly Aunt Joan looked as though she were 
made for the gown, and the gown for her. 
About her neck she wore a kerchief that 
was crossed over her breast. This kerchief 
was always snowy white. The rich, dark 
hair lay in clustering rings upon her white 
forehead, and often escaped from under the 
tortoise-shell comb, with which she confined 
it near the top of her head, to stray in 
glossy strands over her shoulders. It was 
beautiful hair, and Aunt Joan knew how 
to make it look even more so. 

If you could have seen the books and 
helps to study used by our little friends at 
Dorchester in that long ago time, I am 
afraid you would not have wanted to join 
the school kept by Aunt Joan. First of 
all, there was the New England Primer, 
sold by Master Benjamin Harris, at the 
London Coffee House in Boston. This 


BETTY’S LETTER 


123 


was an enlarged edition printed just the 
year before, and considered a fine piece of 
work indeed. For, in addition to its old 
contents, there were many new and elabo- 
rate rules for spelling, all of which were so 
hazy and intricate, that even Aunt Joan 
herself often found her wits tangled hard 
and fast within them. What, then, could 
she expect of her poor little pupils ? 

The Primer had for one of its reading 
lessons a prayer, said to have been com- 
posed by King Edward VI. Whenever the 
children droned over it, they felt like going 
to sleep. There were, too, some verses by 
Master John Rogers, the martyr, who had 
been burned at Smithfield in the reign of 
Bloody Mary. They had been written by 
him for his children. While they were not 
so very sad, yet they always made Betty 
cry. Doubtless she was thinking of the 
martyr himself. Aunt Joan had often to 
wait for the next one’s reading, till Betty 


124 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


dried her eyes and got the sob out of her 
voice. 

Then for writing they had books of rough, 
parchment-like paper, which they had to rule 
themselves. And they used pens made from 
the feathers of the goose and turkey. They 
were not nice one bit, for they would often 
catch in the paper, and sometimes they 
would spread, scattering the ink all about 
the spot. To dry the writing, they threw 
sand upon it. 

But these children never thought of any- 
thing better, and were quite contented, even 
happy at times, in their studies as the days 
passed. Altogether, Aunt Joan thought she 
had a model school. Certainly Aunt Joan 
was a model teacher for those days. And 
so rapidly did Betty progress that, a few 
weeks later, when she wrote her second 
letter, it was a sure enough letter, and a 
fine one indeed. 


CHAPTER IX 


WINKS PLAYS BEGGAR AND HERO 

Winks thought it awfully hard that he, 
too, couldn’t become a pupil of Aunt Joan’s 
school. His chief cause of complaint lay 
in the fact of his banishment. He was 
miserable when away from the children. 
He would rather have been kept all day 
in close confinement with them, than to 
have had the opportunity for the grandest 
out-door frolic alone. It was amusing to 
see the manoeuvres to which he resorted to 
have himself admitted as a member of the 
school. He had even tried to sneak in 
under cover of Aunt Joan’s skirts. 

“ I wish Winks could share his liking for 
school with some children whose names I 
shouldn’t find it hard to call,” said Aunt 
Joan. 


125 


126 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


In an instant Charles, Janies Banbury, 
Richard Croft, and Henry Roddey tucked 
their heads down so closely over their 
books, and altogether looked so- con- 
scious, that Aunt Joan had no need to 
“name names.” 

“Oh, Aunt Joan,” cried Betty, suddenly, 
“ do look at Winks now ! Isn’t he smart ? ” 

I wish you, too, could have seen Winks. 
He certainly was a sight worth beholding. 
He had climbed along the wall to a point 
where he could look down upon the chil- 
dren as they sat in the open space. He 
was now sitting upon his haunches with 
his fore feet stiffly elevated and his nose 
drooping toward them. This was the par- 
ticular attitude of Winks when desiring a 
favor. If it were forgiveness he was ask- 
ing, or the lenient overlooking of some mis- 
demeanor committed, then the paws would 
be curved over, as had been the case when 
he appeared before the Cacique. 


WINKS PLAYS BEGGAR AND HERO 127 

“ What now, Winks ? ” asked Aunt Joan. 

She knew just as well as the rogue 
himself, but she pretended not. 

Higher yet went Winks’s fore paws, and 
now his nose was poked between them. 
He looked comical, indeed. 

“ No use begging, Winks,” said Aunt 
Joan. “We are not keeping school to- 
day for four-foots.” 

Suddenly Winks’s body began to sway. 
What could he be about ? Did he realize 
how near he was to the edge of the wall ? 

“ Oh, aunt,” cried Charles, “ see the 
rogue, what he is about to do ! ” 

“ Oh, deary me,” exclaimed Betty, “ if 
he isn’t trying to make himself fall 
over ! ” 

Yes, Winks was not only trying, but he 
did it. For Betty had no sooner exclaimed 
at his intention, than down from the wall 
shot a little black body, whirling over 
once, then landing deftly on its feet. 


128 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


Thereupon Winks turned for the approba- 
tion he felt that he assuredly deserved for 
so wonderful a feat. He received it from 
the children, though in rather a covert 
way. 

As to Aunt Joan, she looked at him as 
sternly as she could. 

“ Since Winks has gained what he de- 
sired by pretending,’’ she said, “ it pleases 
us to let him serve as an example to his 
young friends for the rest of the morning 
session. Come, you rogue, and play beg- 
gar until I say to you it is enough.” 

Poor Winks ! many times ere that long, 
long hour was over he wished that he 
had not tried to play that trick on Aunt 
Joan, to make her believe that he had 
lost his balance and tumbled into the 
courtway. For there he had to sit, stiff* 
and prim, with paws extending upward 
and his back aching — oh, dreadfully — 
while he begged, begged, begged. And 


WINKS PLAYS BEGGAR AND HERO 129 

every time he made a movement to let 
his paws drop downward, so as to give 
himself a moment’s rest, Aunt Joan, with 
stern eye and terrible voice, would bid 
him up again. It was a long time ere 
Winks felt like playing beggar again ; 
and how ashamed he was of what he had 
done. Then, too, Charles and Henry and 
James and Richard teased him dreadfully. 
He wished with all his little dog’s heart 
that he had never gained what he desired 
through deceiving, for only shame and 
unhappiness had come of it. But Winks 
was to redeem himself yet. What a 
triumph that was for him ! 

The spring had passed and the summer 
was coming. The children spent all the 
time they could out of doors. Such grand 
times as they had wading in the creek and 
watching the curlews, snipes, and silver- 
plumed storks hunting for their food. 
One of their delights was to sit on the 


130 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


banks of the creek and fish. Among 
others they caught such beautiful little 
red-stomached perch, with scales that spar- 
kled so they seemed made entirely of sil- 
ver. At others, they would hunt for the 
lovely water-lilies that rode upon their 
broad green pads, like queens in their 
chariots, Betty said. The largest one 
would always be named the Queen of Sheba. 

“ All the others are going with her to 
see Solomon,” Betty would add. 

But the day they remembered most of 
all was the one they came upon the 
crane’s nest, and that was the day Winks 
made a hero of himself. 

The children were hunting for fiddlers 
(mud-crabs) along the edges of the creek, 
and had just come to a clump of tall 
rushes, when Betty, who was leading, gave 
a sudden little squeak of delight. Then 
she fell back, motioning to the others 
mysteriously. 


WINKS PLAYS BEGGAR AND HERO 131 

u Hush ! Hush-e-e-e ! ” she whispered. 
“ Stop right here. Don’t go a step nearer. 
What do you think I’ve found?” 

“ A marsh-hen,” suggested Emily. 

“ A turtle,” said Charles. “ Oh, Betty, 
show me right away where he is, for I 
must have him.” 

Betty shook her head. 

“ It is neither a turtle nor a marsh-hen.” 

“It is a toad with a horn, then,” 
declared Henry. 

Again Betty’s head went vigorously 
from side to side. 

“ Oh, I know,” said Richard, and de- 
spite Betty’s warning, he spoke right out. 
“It is a whole village of fiddlers. Do 
]et us see them at once.” 

“I haven’t seen a fiddler yet,” asserted 
Betty. 

“I have it!” cried Charles, and now 
he looked at Betty with mischief twin- 
kling in his eyes. “ It is an Indian 


132 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


baby in the rushes like another little 
Moses ! ” 

“ Oh, Charles/’ remonstrated Betty. 

Then all at once Charles remembered 
what Betty had suffered through one 
Indian baby, and how sorry he was. 

“ Do forgive me, sister/’ he begged. “ I 
forgot for just the minute.” 

Betty put her arm about his shoulders, in 
the sweet way she had, and he knew that he 
was forgiven so soon as the words were 
spoken. 

“ But what is it, sister dear ? ” entreated 
Charles, as he returned to the all-absorb- 
ing topic. 

“ Listen,” she began, and how big and 
round her eyes became ! 

“It is — ” 

But here Betty paused, as though the 
nature of the disclosure she was about to 
make was of such import it quite took 
her breath away. 

“ Do go on,” begged Henry. 


WINKS PLAYS BEGGAR AND HERO 133 

“We can’t wait another minute,” said 
Charles. 

“Not another one,” added Richard. 

“ Yes, Betty,” urged Emily, “ do tell 
us quickly.” 

“ It is a crane,” said Betty, “ and what 
do you think she is doing ? ” 

“ I am sure I could never guess,” 
admitted Emily. 

“Do tell us, sister, without stopping to 
question us in that way,” begged Charles. 

“Well, then, she is — ” 

Again Betty made a provoking pause, 
and now she pointed her finger impera- 
tively at her brother. 

“ You keep still now, Charles, while I 
tell you. She is sitting.” 

“ Whoopee ! ” cried Charles, despite the 
warning. “ I just must see those eggs.” 

“ So, too, must I,” declared Henry. 

As each spoke he made a movement in the 
direction indicated by Betty. 


134 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


“No, you will not,” asserted Betty. 
“You just shall not disturb the mother 
crane,” and she bravely placed herself in 
the path leading to the crane’s nest. 

“But we must see the eggs,” persisted 
Charles. “ I did not say we would disturb 
the mother.” 

“ No, you did not say it, but you will. 
Do help me, Emily. It would be such a 
wicked thing to break up the poor mother’s 
nest.” 

“So it would,” agreed Emily. “But 
surely Charles and Henry do not mean 
that.” 

“ Yes, they do,” declared Bichard. “ I 
can tell by the look they gave each other.” 

“ You would not do such a thing, would 
you, Richard ? ” asked Betty, appealing to 
him. 

“No, I would not,” he asserted stoutly. 

“ Neither would we,” exclaimed Charles, 
indignantly. “ Do show us where the crane 


WINKS PLAYS BEGGAR AND HERO 135 

is. We promise you we will not hurt 
her.” 

Betty looked at him a moment, hesi- 
tating. 

“ You really mean that, Charles ? ” 

“Yes, I do” 

She still looked at him in doubt. She 
seemed pondering something. Suddenly her 
face brightened. 

“I think you will not hurt the mother 
bird,” she said ; “ but you must promise me 
you will not touch her.” 

The countenance of each boy fell at the 
words. It was evident they had not in- 
tended Betty should catch them in this way. 

“ You must promise not to touch her,” 
persisted Betty. “ If you will promise me 
this, I will take you to where you can see 
her. You must not even cry out so as to 
frighten her.” 

Not until they had solemnly and re- 
peatedly given their promise to this effect, 


136 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


did Betty conduct them to where they 
could see the mother crane sitting upon 
her nest. 

I ought not to have written it thus : 
mother crane did not sit on her nest ; 
she really stood over it. For it had been 
built high up in a network of reeds, just 
high enough for the mother bird’s body to 
rest on the eggs as she stood over them. 
Had she sat on them, the weight of her 
body would soon have crushed them in. 
Isn’t it wonderful that she knew this her- 
self ? No, not wonderful, when we remem- 
ber that God taught her. 

“ My,” said Charles, “ isn’t it a big 
sight, though ? Oh, dear, I just can’t 
keep my hands off her. I wonder what 
color the eggs are and how they look ? ” 

Suddenly there was a glance exchanged 
between himself and Henry. It was all 
that was necessary. The next moment, 
with a little whoop of defiance directed 


WINKS PLAYS BEGGAR AND HERO 137 

toward Betty, both boys plunged toward 
the crane’s nest. 

In a twinkling the mother bird was 
routed, and there in the nest of rushes lay 
two eggs, larger than our hens lay, long- 
pointed at one end and of a pale ash color, 
powdered with brown. 

“ Oh, don’t harm them ! don’t harm 
them ! ” pleaded Betty. 

She did not say, “ Don’t touch them,” 
for she knew that would be useless. How- 
ever, I think this was the worst the boys 
intended. I am sure neither was so heart- 
less as to wish to destroy the eggs. 

“ For shame ! for shame ! ” cried Emily. 
“ You ought both to be punished for treat- 
ing the poor mother crane in that way.” 

She little knew how near the punishment 
was. 

As the two boys plunged toward her, the 
mother crane sprang away in affright, utter- 
ing a hissing sound, which quickly changed 


138 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


to a sharp, discordant cry. Almost as soon 
as it was uttered another cry answered it, 
but sharper and more prolonged. 

This last cry came from the male bird, 
who was not far away. Even while Charles 
and Henry bent over the nest, there was the 
whirring of wings, a succession of sharp, 
angry cries, and a body moving swiftly, 
dropped beside them. Then, ere they had 
time to realize the danger, they were set 
upon with beak and wing, the mother 
crane all the while encouraging her mate 
to the attack by a continued outcry. 

“ See ! see ! ” cried Betty. “ It is another 
bird. Oh, Charles ! Henry ! Surely they 
will be killed. What shall we do ! What 
shall we do ! ” 

“ Let us go to their help,” said Richard. 

“ Yes ! yes ! ” exclaimed Emily. 

However, it seemed that their presence 
but angered the crane the more. He re- 
doubled his attack, striking right and left 


WINKS PLA YS BEGGAR AND HERO 139 

with beak and wing. Charles was down, 
and Henry blinded by the blood that 
was dripping from a wound on his fore- 
head. 

The bird seemed determined now to 
concentrate his attack upon Charles, doubt- 
less because he was down and seemed the 
easier prey. 

In vain Richard, Emily, and Betty 
shouted to him and struck at him with 
all their might, seeking to keep him away 
from Charles’s face. 

“ Oh, he will be killed ! ” sobbed Betty. 
“What can we do?” 

She raised her head and began to call 
in piercing tones for help. Even as she 
cried out she realized how slim was the 
chance, owing to the distance, of any one’s 
hearing her. 

The crane was now standing over 
Charles, its wings outstretched, and with 
them it was beating the air so violently 


140 LITTLE BETTY BLEW 

that no one could approach near enough 
to render Charles any aid. 

One after the other they attempted it, 
and each was alike beaten back. 

“ Oh, will no one help him ? Will no 
one come to help him ? ” cried Betty, 
wringing her hands. 

She had fallen upon her knees now, and 
was sobbing out her entreaty ; it seemed 
only to empty space. 

But rescue was at hand. 

Betty’s passionate plea for help was yet 
warm upon her lips when the sound of 
footfalls coming rapidly through the reeds 
was heard. 

The next moment Winks bounded into 
the space where the battle was proceeding 
at such terrible odds against the prostrate 
Charles. Gallant Winks ! with glossy 
plume erect, like martial banner waving, 
and eyes speaking of a purpose that never 
flinched. He alone of all those whose ears 


WINKS PLAYS BEGGAR AND HERO 141 

had been assailed by the pleading cries for 
help had heard and responded. 

With battle cry as defiant as any soldier 
ever uttered, he flung himself upon the 
crane. His intent, no doubt, had been to 
land upon the crane’s body directly be- 
tween the violently moving wings, and 
thus pinion them down so that their 
opportunity to do harm would be consid- 
erably decreased. But Winks missed his 
calculations, and, instead of landing upon 
the crane, came down in front of him. 
The bird made a sudden dive for him 
with his beak, and for an instant it 
seemed it must go hard with the gallant 
dog. But not so. Winks was up again 
as quickly as he had gone down; and 
now he made attack with surer aim. He 
sprang nimbly to one side and seized the 
crane by a wing. 

The bird gave a sharp cry and sought 
to shake him off:, but to no avail. Winks 


142 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


clung to him with the persistence that 
makes heroes, his sharp teeth all the while 
biting deeper and deeper into the bird. 

“ Oh, good Winkie ! dear Winkie ! ” 
cried Betty. “ Smart, smart dog ! ” 

If Winks had needed any further incen- 
tive, he would have received it in these 
words. Had his courage been the least 
bit shaken up to this time, it could never 
have wavered again after this dear voice 
spoke to him thus. 

The bird sought again and again to 
attack Winks with his beak, but each 
time he dodged away, dragging the bird 
by the wing. 

Seeing that his efforts to attack the 
dog were useless, the crane’s next attempt 
was to free himself from Winks’s grip. 
But with the weight hanging to his wing 
he could do naught but plunge from side 
to side. 

In the meanwhile the mother bird had 


WINKS PLAYS BEGGAR AND HERO 143 


returned to the neighborhood of her nest, 
and was hovering there, uttering uneasy 
cries. She showed no disposition to go 
to the assistance of the male bird. She 
seemed concerned only about her nest and 
the danger that threatened it. 

Discovering that he had at length met 
a foe that could give him royal battle, the 
crane made one supreme effort to recover 
freedom. Raising himself a few inches, 
he struck at the dog with his claws. This 
proved successful, for, with a yelp of pain, 
Winks relaxed his grip. 

The crane darted upward, but not with 
easy movement, for Winks’s determined 
teeth had dealt such havoc to the wing 
it was partly crippled. 

As the crane soared upward, a cry of 
joy escaped Betty, and she sprang toward 
Charles to assist him. He was now stand- 
ing up, and doing his best to laugh over 
what had happened. But he was very 


144 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


white, and it was a poor attempt at a 
smile that was on his lips. 

So soon as she was sure that Charles 
had not received serious hurt, Betty made 
a dive for Winks, and how she hugged 
him ! 

“ Oh, Winkie ! Winkie ! ” she cried, as 
she kissed him again and again on the 
top of his head. “What should we ever 
have done without you?” 

Sure enough, what would they have 
done ? 


CHAPTER X 


DEAR MAID BETTY 

The children called their mother The 
Beautiful. She was not really that so far 
as looks went, but she had the sweetest, 
gentlest ways and the loveliest smile. No 
wonder she was beautiful to them. Then 
such a great, warm, loving heart as was 
hers ! She would have been beautiful to 
you, too, had you known her, for she was 
good, which is better than being beautiful, 
and she was wise. 

It was easy to see where Betty got her 
eyes of deep, dark gray, with their upward- 
curling lashes, and her sweet, firm mouth 
and chin. Betty was like her mother, too, 
in many ways, chief of which was the 
readiness with which she could enter into 


145 


146 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


the feelings of others, and always she saw 
the best in everything and everybody. 

The Beautiful and Aunt Joan were 
sisters, though the mother of the little 
Blews was some ten years the older. But 
she did not seem to be, for her face had 
a young, fresh look. She never marred 
it by frown, or, as Betty expressed it, 
“tied it up in knots.” 

Betty passed much of her time in the 
company of her mother and aunt. Thus 
she had grown thoughtful beyond her age, 
and often the expressions she used surprised 
those who heard them. Her mother’s pet 
name was “My Little Woman,” and cer- 
tainly she was womanly in all her ways. 

There never was a more helpful little 
maid about the house than our Betty Blew. 
From father down to tiny baby brother 
she was always seeking something she 
might do for each. 

It was truly a delight to the mother’s 


DEAR MAID BETTY 


147 


eyes to see her little Betty at the great 
wool wheel. How swiftly her deft fingers 
could make it revolve, its polished rim 
glittering like a band of light as she swung 
it in its circle. And what a dear little 
woman she looked, so demure and indus- 
trious, as she stepped back and forth, draw- 
ing out the fine threads of soft wool. 

Our Betty was even now a fine little 
house mistress. She not only kept her own 
sleeping apartment in order, sharing the 
task with Caroline each alternate week, 
but she could tidy up as nicely as any one 
sitting room and dining room. How 
deftly her brisk young arms could swing 
sedge broom or crane’s- wing duster. Few 
flecks of dirt escaped our Betty’s vigilant eye. 

One thing, however, Betty did not like 
to do. She really dreaded it. This was 
to comb her hair. It was very long and 
thick, and so glossy and beautiful. It 
would get tangled and snarly, and such 


148 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


a time as our little girl would have bring- 
ing it right again. We can’t wonder that 
she now and then gave up the task and 
left it only partly conquered. Little girls 
will sometimes do this with bad habits 
as well as tangled hair. 

Of late Aunt Joan had begun to comb 
Betty’s hair, for she hated so to see the 
little girl overcome by it. She was afraid, 
too, that it was beginning just the least 
bit to affect her little maid’s temper. To 
see a snarl in that was what Aunt Joan 
dreaded. She would rather far have found 
a hundred in Betty’s hair. So every morn- 
ing of late she had come into the little 
girl’s room just as she knew she would be 
dressing. 

One morning the hair was unusually 
snarly, so that, with all Aunt Joan’s gentle- 
ness and patience, the comb was well filled 
with the contrary fellows that had clung 
to it and had been broken away. 


DEAR MAID BETTY 


149 


Betty looked at them gravely, then she 
asked : — 

“Aunt Joan, do you really think God 
numbered the hairs in my head?” 

“Yes, sweetheart,” replied Aunt Joan, 
“that is what our dear Book says, you 
know, 6 The hairs of our head are all 
numbered/ ” 

Betty’s serious look deepened. 

“ Then, aunt, I am more than ever sorry 
so many came out, for now God will have 
to count them all over again.” 

Aunt Joan looked grave. She did not 
smile as many would have done, for she 
saw how truly in earnest the little maid 
was. 

“He can easily do that, dear.” 

“But it is too bad, Aunt Joan, for Him 
to be given the trouble.” 

“ He will not think it trouble, my 
Betty.” 

“ Oh, Aunt Joan,” Betty cried suddenly, 


150 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


“I know how we can do so as to help 
Him. You count those that have been 
taken out. Then to-night when you pray, 
and God comes to listen, you can tell Him 
the number of them, or,” she added a little 
more gravely, “ I will tell Him.” 

“Yes,” said Aunt Joan, “you can tell 
Him, Betty.” 

That night as Betty knelt with clasped 
hands and reverently bowed head, she 
poured into the great listening Ear, in 
all her childish simplicity, the story of the 
abstracted hairs, which she and Aunt Joan 
had carefully counted. 

“ And, dear God,” added Betty, “ if you 
make me any new ones, please not to make 
them snarly.” 

For a while after that Betty attended to 
her own hair in the mornings, for little 
Daniel had been sick, and Aunt Joan’s 
time, as well as mother’s, was closely occu- 
pied with him. Both mother and aunt 


DEAR MAID BETTY 


151 


were very zealous in the effort to teach 
the children habits of cleanliness. Face 
and hands and hair were not the only 
parts of the body, our little people were 
told, that should receive their attention, 
the teeth and nails must also have their 
share. 

One morning Aunt Joan began to ques- 
tion Betty very closely as to the toilet she 
had made. 

“ Did my little girl get her hair all right 
this morning?” 

“ Oh, yes, aunt,” smiled Betty. 

“ All the snarlies driven away without 
any cross words from my Betty ? ” 

“ Yes, aunt dear.” 

“*And the little face has been nicely 
cleansed ? ” 

“ Yes, dear aunt. Yes, yes,” said Betty, 
nodding vigorously. 

“Teeth and nails, too, Mistress Eliza- 
beth?” 


152 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


“ Aunt,” replied Betty, gravely, “ I do as- 
sure you I have performed all my reli- 
gious ablutions.” 

Betty wondered what made father smile 
at this. But Aunt Joan did not, though 
there was a funny little movement about 
her lips for a moment. Then she said, 
quite as gravely as Betty had done : — 

“ I am glad, my dear, that you have 
learned that cleanliness is indeed a part 
of religion.” 

The Indians continued to be very friendly. 
They came constantly to the settlement. 
They brought furs to be exchanged for 
beads, trinkets, brightly colored cloths, and 
gay blankets. A warehouse had been built 
on the river bank, and once a week the flat- 
boats were loaded with skins for Charles 
Town. 

In addition to corn, pease, and yams the 
Indians brought venison and honey. Game 
was plentiful in the forest and fish in the 


DEAR MAID BETTY 


153 


river. The settlers had also cleared and 
planted broad fields of Indian corn. They 
found the land very fertile, especially in the 
river bottoms. Rice was also planted in 
the marshy places, where the water could 
constantly flood it. Seed had not been hard 
to procure, for by this time all the planters 
had a supply of it. 

While the Indians were peaceful and not 
disposed, save in a very few cases, to be 
dishonest, yet there were numerous small 
plunderers always ready to commit their 
depredations. In the daytime the crows 
and other birds came and threatened to do 
great damage to the corn and rice fields. 
The children were sent to frighten them 
away. This they did by means of whoops 
and shouts and the casting of sticks and 
clods of dirt. They thought this fine fun 
as first, but after a while they grew tired 
of it, and sometimes, when the sun shone 
very warm, they became drowsy and fell 


154 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


asleep. Then Master Crow and Mistress 
Rice-bird and Madame Blue Jay and little 
Master Towee had a fine time indeed. 

The men patrolled the fields at night, 
taking it by turns. This they did to save 
them from the deer, bears, and raccoons. 
The deer loved the potato vines. The 
coons and bears were fond of the milk 
in the green corn, and would tear through 
the shuck to get to it. 

“ Oh, what do you think happened last 
night ? ” said Charles one morning at 
breakfast. 

“Very many things, maybe/’ replied 
his mother. “For one thing, I heard a 
little boy kicking as though for the 
time being he had turned to a marsh 
pony.” 

Charles hung his head for a moment. 
He hadn’t expected such a reply as this to 
his query. 

“That was the same little boy,” 


con- 


DEAR MAID BETTY 


155 


tinued Mrs. Blew, “ who pleaded for venison 
twice at supper.” 

u Maybe he dreamed he had turned to a 
deer, and the hunters were after him,” sug- 
gested Betty. 

“Well, what happened last night,” asked 
Aunt Joan, “ about which you are so 
anxious to tell us?” 

She thought it high time Charles's head 
was coming up again. 

“ Oh, aunt, a big bear walked into Mas- 
ter Christopher Portman’s field, and ere he 
could prevent it, had torn off two or three 
ears of the corn. Then he went away with 
them just as a person would have done.” 

“ Why, how did he manage to carry 
them?” asked Betty, her eyes wide open 
with interest. 

“That was the funny part. He just 
hugged them up against him, and walked 
away on two of his legs. Captain North, 
who was there also, wanted the bear shot, 


156 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


but Master Portman would not. He said 
it might have hungry little ones at home 
for whom it had stolen the corn.” 

“ I believe that was it,” said Betty. “ Oh, 
I shall think greatly of Master Portman 
forever now, because of his being so good 
to the bear.” 

As she said these words Betty’s eyes grew 
dewy with feeling. 

“ I wish much I could see the little bears,” 
she added. “ I know they are lovely.” 


CHAPTER XI 


A TREACHEROUS CRAFT 

“ I know where there is the funniest log,” 
said Betty one day, as the children were on 
their way to the creek. “ I think it is a 
palmetto log, though it has the queerest 
shape. Sometimes it is floating right up 
at the top of the water, and again it goes 
under.” 

“I suppose it is close to an eddy,” sug- 
gested Charles. “ Don’t you remember how 
down near the mouth of the creek the drift- 
wood spins around and bobs about ? ” _ 

“ And sometimes it is sucked clear un- 
der,” added Henry. 

“ This isn’t far from the mouth of the 
creek,” continued Betty. “ Come, let us go 
to see if it is there now. It would make a 
splendid boat if only we had some sails.” 

157 


158 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


They found the spot, right along the 
edge of the creek, but the log was not 
there, at least it was not there when they 
first looked. But directly there was a little 
shout from Betty. 

“ There it is ! ” she cried. “ It is coming 
up now. Fm sure it is a palmetto. See 
how rough it is ! ” 

The object to which Betty pointed had 
now come plainly into view, and was lying 
along the surface of the water almost mo- 
tionless. It seemed to sway to and fro only 
with the movement of the current. 

“ It is a palmetto/’ said Charles, “ though 
it is much darker than they usually are. 
I suppose it looks so because of the black 
mud in which it has been.” 

“What are those queer little branches 
growing out from it?” asked Henry, sud- 
denly. “ I think I never saw a palmetto 
look like that,” and he bent nearer for an 
inspection. “All the palmettoes I have 


A TREACHEROUS CRAFT 


159 


seen are bare of anything on their trunks 
except right at the tops.” 

“ It may be some other kind of vegetable 
growing on it,” suggested Richard. “ It 
certainly does look like a palmetto. It has 
the same sort of ridges.” 

“ How funny it looks/’ exclaimed Emily, 
“ as though it had been flattened out near 
the centre. But with all that, I think it 
wouldn’t make a safe boat. It is too 
narrow.” 

“ If we had sails, it would go finely,” 
declared Betty. 

“I believe I’ll take a ride on it, any- 
how,” cried Charles. 

“ So, too, will I,” added Henry. 

“ Mind ! it may tilt you over into the 
water,” warned Betty. “It seems very 
shaky.” 

“ Well, if it does, we can wade out again. 
It isn’t very deep here. Wait, Henry, 
till I get a stick. Theji we’ll use it 


160 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


as a pole, and play that this is our flat- 
boat.” 

“ And that Betty and Emily are our bales 
of skins,” suggested Henry, with a mis- 
chievous twinkle of the eye. “But how 
are we to get our bales on board?” 

“ Wait until we see if we get ourselves 
there,” replied Charles. 

He had secured his pole by this time. 

Planting it as firmly as he could in the 
mud at the bottom of the shallow water, 
he used it as a support and sprang lightly 
upon the rough surface k he had designated 
as a flatboat. But almost at the moment 
that his feet touched it a strange demon- 
stration took place. 

The object supposed to be a log, instead 
of swaying from side to side and sinking 
partly, as even Charles had expected it 
to do, made a sudden dive forward, and 
then went plunging downward. The force 
with which it had moved had sent 


A TREACHEROUS CRAFT 161 

Charles spinning into the water many 
feet way. 

He came lip gasping and sputtering, 
his mouth full of water, from which he 
sought hastily to free it. 

Seeing the commotion in the little group 
on the bank, he cried out sturdily : — 

“ Don’t be frightened. I am not hurt. 
I’ll get back to shore all right ! 

“ But what in the world is it ? ” he 
added, for now he became conscious that 
the object, whatever it might be, was 
churning the water into a foam that was 
tossed all about him. Fortunately, he 
was some distance away. 

He had started to swim toward the 
bank, but had taken only a stroke or so 
when a terrific bellowing assailed his ears. 

“Look, Charles, look!” cried Emily. 
“ Oh, take care ! ” 

“ Turn to the left ! ” shouted Henry. 
“ He is after you ! ” 


162 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


“ Oli, Charles ! Oh, Charles ! ” cried 
Betty. 

She had sprung to the very edge of 
the creek, and had her hands outstretched 
to him in a piteous way. 

“ What can it be ? ” thought Charles. 
“A mad calf, I do believe. It sounds 
like one. But it could be no calf I 
stepped upon. That was certainly some- 
thing different from a calf.” 

“ Quick!” cried Henry again. “Oh, 
Charles, do hurry ! Move faster ! faster ! ” 

The water was swirling about Charles, 
the spray caused by the angry monster 
dashing into his eyes, half blinding him. 
He threw one hand up to free his eyes 
from the clinging drops and saw, for the 
first time, the outlines of the creature he 
had enraged. 

It was coming straight toward him, 
using the ungainly legs at its sides like 
paddles and churning the water with its 


A TREACHEROUS CRAFT 163 

tail as it came. He saw a cavernous 
mouth with rows of terrible teeth gleam- 
ing within, and set far back upon its 
head two glittering eyes that were fas- 
tened upon him with an intent unmis- 
takable. 

“ An alligator ! ” cried Henry. “ An 
alligator, Charles ! We know now what 
it is.” 

So, too, did Charles, for like a flash 
had come to him the stories he had 
heard the Indians and negroes tell of 
this dangerous reptile. But not until 
to-day had he seen one. 

“ Oh, quick ! be quick ! ” pleaded Henry, 
“ and get out of his way ! ” 

This was just what Charles was striv- 
ing to do, and with all his might. 

He would no doubt have succeeded, for 
he was a bold swimmer, but for the fact 
that he had come now to the shallow 
water. Suddenly, he felt his feet touch 


164 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


bottom, and, ere he realized it, he was 
caught in the mud. 

Deeper and deeper he sank, and vain 
became his efforts to successfully extricate 
himself. For no sooner had he pulled 
himself up from one place, than it was 
to find he was sinking into another. 

Seeing his friend’s predicament, Henry 
bravely sprang forward, hoping to aid 
Charles. He, too, but sank into the 
mire, floundering helplessly. 

“ The pole ! the pole ! ” cried Betty to 
Richard. “ Let us get it to Charles. 
We may then help to pull him ashore. 
Oh, hasten ! hasten ! ” 

As Richard moved but slowly, or so it 
seemed to Betty, she sprang for the pole 
herself, where Charles had dropped it 
along the edge of the water. 

She seized it and hastened with it in 
the direction of her brother, regardless of 
the warning given by the plight of both 


A TREACHEROUS CRAFT 165 

himself and Henry. She thought only of 
his terrible danger, and of how she must 
do all she could to save him. The hid- 
eous monster was close upon him now, its 
great jaws snapping, its eyes seeming to 
emit gleams of fire. It made Betty 
shudder to see it. 

Somehow, as Betty ran, her feet came 
in contact with a real log that lay buried 
in the mud of the creek, and she kept it 
for its full length without any design on 
her part. Thus she had gone several 
paces ere she, too, sank into the mud. 
But ere she felt that terrible grip of the 
slime, and found she was going down, 
down into its depths, she had thrown the 
pole toward Charles, retaining her grasp 
upon one end, and urging him to make 
effort to seize the other. She had also 
called to Emily and Richard to come to her 
aid. 

The sudden dash made by Betty and the 


166 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


flourishing of the pole had attracted the 
attention of the alligator. He no doubt 
looked upon this as the coming of a new 
foe with whom he would have to deal. No 
sooner did he behold this fresh point for an 
attack, than he renewed his bellowings, 
and, raising his hideous head, turned away 
from the course he was pursuing, making 
straight toward Betty. 

The little girl seemed doomed. For 
there she was, caught fast in the mud, with 
no power to extricate herself in time. She 
made brave effort to reach again the end 
of the log, for the moment she had slipped 
from it, she realized what it was. But she 
had mired too deeply to regain it with the 
haste necessary. 

On came the alligator, his tail lashing 
the water from side to side, his great jaws 
opening and shutting as though they 
already felt between them the tender body 
they sought to crush. 


A TREACHEROUS CRAFT 


167 


Emily screamed. It was terrible now, 
somehow much more so than when the 
monster had been after Charles. For Betty 
seemed so helpless. 

Charles and Henry were still floundering 
in the mud. They, too, saw Betty’s danger 
and cried aloud in their terror and despair 
when they realized how powerless they were 
to give her aid. 

Richard made brave effort to reach her, 
but, not knowing of the log, met, after a 
few steps, the same fate as the others. 
Emily alone kept the bank, and she was 
screaming with all her power. 

The alligator was now but a few paces 
from Betty, not more than eight or ten feet. 

The little girl shut her eyes. 

“ Oh, Beautiful,” she said, “ good-by. 
I’ll never see you and Aunt Joan again 
except in heaven.” 

The farewell was no more than breathed 
when there was the twang of a bow-string, 


168 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


and through the air an arrow came speed- 
ing, — an arrow sent by an arm that, while 
no longer young, had not lost its cunning, 
and directed by an eye that, although 
dimmed by disease, had still its wondrous 
accuracy. 

Straight down over Betty’s head it sped, 
and then, just as the horrible jaws of the 
monster reptile had opened for that last 
dart upon its prey, the barb struck it 
straight and full in one of the fierce 
eyes, and with such force it was buried 
deeply. 

With a bellow of pain the alligator threw 
itself upward, then, with sudden plunge, 
sank beneath the deeper water, churning it 
into foam that was scattered for many feet 
around and that completely drenched Betty. 
Something else, too, began to mingle with 
the foam. It was blood. 

“ Chi-co-la ! ” cried Charles. “ Oh, it is 
Chi-co-la ! I see him ! ” 


A TREACHEROUS CRAFT 


169 


Yes, it was Chi-co-la. Chi-co-la, who had 
heard Emily’s screams, and who had come 
with no lagging step to the rescue. 

He knew there was no time to be lost, 
although the alligator was sorely wounded. 
It would probably seek again its prey. It 
was dazed now by the pain, but it would 
be more infuriated than ever after a few 
moments. 

Chi-co-la’s ready eye showed him the 
outlines of the log beneath the mud. He 
hastened along it, and dropping upon it, 
face downward, clung to it with his 
knees as he reached for Betty. Slowly, 
steadily he drew her to him. 

“ Good Chi-co-la, dear Chi-co-la, ” the 
poor little maid whispered as her head fell 
against his shoulder. 

Then, the strain over, she must have 
lost consciousness for some moments, since 
the next that she knew she was sitting on 
the bank, and Emily was both seeking to 


170 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


free her clothing of its weight of mud and 
crying over her as she did so. 

But where was Chi-co-la ? 

The good rescuer’s work was not yet 
over, since there were Charles and Henry 
floundering in the mud, Richard having 
managed, by this time, to extricate himself. 

He called to the two boys : — 

“ Kish ! kish ! ” (Steady ! steady !) 

They knew that meant to be still. 

Then he hastened a few steps back into the 
forest and cut a long streamer of the slender 
wild grapevine hanging from one of the trees. 

This he coiled in his hand as he would 
have done a rope, and, calling to Charles to 
look out for it, sent one end deftly flying to 
within a few inches of the boy, while the 
other remained clasped in his own hand. 

“ Catch ! catch! ” he cried to Charles. 

Charles needed no second bidding. He 
gripped the vine tightly, though his hands 
were shaking. He was now badly upset by 
all that had transpired. 


A TREACHEROUS CRAFT 


171 


First Charles and then Henry was drawn 
to shore in this manner, and Henry not a 
moment too soon. For his feet were barely 
upon the bank when the alligator appeared 
again upon the surface of the water, and 
almost at the spot whence the boy had been 
drawn. It was even more enraged than it 
had been before. 

Chi-co-la would not let Betty walk any 
part of the way back to the settlement. He 
insisted on carrying her. He kept looking 
at her and talking to himself in his own 
language. Once or twice he laid his fingers 
gently upon her cheeks. 

Our little maid did not object to this. 
She had grown to like Chi-co-la, for he had 
now been at the village several weeks, and 
had made himself very pleasing to the chil- 
dren, often joining in their pastimes and 
showing them many wonderful things. Be- 
sides, had he not just saved Betty’s life, 
and no doubt Charles’s and Henry’s, too ? 


172 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


So while our Betty thought Chi-co-la’s pro- 
ceedings a little strange, they did not trouble 
her. She tried to talk back to him, though 
she understood only a word or so of the 
language he was now speaking. 

Another strange thing Chi-co-la did. In- 
stead of carrying Betty to her mother and 
Aunt Joan, he bore her to the warehouse, 
where he knew Mr. Blew was for the day. 

He never stopped until he had placed 
Betty, mud and all, in her father’s arms. 

Then he stepped back and stood with 
clasped hands, his eyes bent eagerly upon 
Mr. Blew’s face. 

“ Undo,” he said, “ undo. Chi-co-la 
undo.” 

They were the same words he had spoken 
at Charles Town when the man before him 
had stood between him and the cruel lash. 

They struck Mr. Blew a little strangely 
now. He was at a loss this time to un- 
derstand their reference. He was mystified, 


A TREACHEROUS CRAFT 173 

too, as to the meaning of Chi-co-la’s bring- 
ing Betty to him, and in this condition; 
but in a few moments, as Emily, Henry, 
Charles, and Bichard flocked into the ware- 
house, having found it difficult to keep up 
with Chi-co-la’s long strides, Mr. Blew was 
given the story of the peril from which they 
had been saved, especially his little Betty. 
He felt then that he could not bestow upon 
brave Chi-co-la a sufficiency of praise and 
thanks. 

Later he thought again of Chi-co-la’s out- 
of-place words, and again they struck him 
strangely. That evening, as he was prepar- 
ing to retire, he repeated them to his wife. 

“ They were strange, Philip,” she admitted. 
“ What do you suppose he meant ? Has he 
done anything wicked that you know ? ” 

Mr. Blew shook his head. 

“ Nothing of which I have ever heard. 
He has been a model of good behavior since 
he came here.” 


CHAPTER XII 


A NEW ACQUAINTANCE 

The spring and summer had gone and 
winter was coming, but in this fair Caro- 
lina climate, with its blue skies and days 
of balmy air and golden sunshine, even in 
December, there was not the dread as in the 
northern colonies of winter’s approach. It 
is true, there were some cold, crisp days, and 
others of raw air and biting east winds, and 
snow, too, might lie lightly on the ground. 
But these would only be “ now and then,” 
while the “ most times ” were the days 
when the sunlight sparkled like golden wine, 
and the blue of the sky glowed as though 
it had been polished, and' tiny wild flowers 
nodded bravely up from under the leaves. 
Flowers out of doors in the winter, say you ? 

174 


A NEW ACQUAINTANCE 


175 


Yes, this is just what these colonists had in 
their gardens after a while. And now, my 
little man or woman, whose eyes delight in 
these “ children of the angels/’ as one little 
girl has called them, if only you will come 
to see the writer at that happy season 
you can have roses from out of doors 
for the Christmas dinner table; yes, you 
can. 

The children were sorry the summer had 
gone. Yet autumn, too, had its delights, 
for there were the drifts of brown, crisp 
leaves with which to play. How many 
mimic battles they fought with them ! 
And what fun it was to cover each other 
up under them ! Then there were the feasts 
of haws and persimmons, grapes and 
hickory nuts, which they shared with the 
squirrels and the birds. Sometimes they 
had to contend right warmly with their 
feathered friends for an unusually tempt- 
ing bit of fruit. But the squirrels always 


176 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


dropped the nuts and scampered away. 
They were shyer than the birds. 

Winter was indeed coming. The pussy- 
willow stood tall and bare. The cat-bird 
no longer called from the trees. The 
mocking-bird had gone to regular house- 
keeping, and his closed doors said plainly 
that he was at present neither visiting 
nor receiving visitors. The broom sedge 
looked very cheerless in its scant attire 
of curled brown leaves. Only the sparkle 
berries were here to make glad the eager 
mouths of the children and the hungry 
ones of the birds. 

In the ten months since the day when 
the small band of pilgrims had come with 
stout hearts in their two good ships up 
the deep, dark current of the Ashley, the 
village had grown as though magic hands 
had built it. They were industrious hands, 
and this kind can indeed do magical things. 
There were now a dozen dwellings, a town 


A NEW ACQUAINTANCE 


177 


hall, a smith’s shop, and a public store- 
house in addition to the warehouse on the 
river bank. 

How the children loved to visit the ware- 
house ! They were constantly making ex- 
cuse to go thither. Betty especially was 
filled with delight when she was permitted 
to accompany her father. She liked noth- 
ing better than to stay the whole day 
through with him, when it came his turn 
to take charge of the buying of skins. 

She saw Indians there to the extent of 
her desire. While some were very fierce- 
looking, and it made her heart beat faster 
when they came near, yet many were very 
mild and gentle, and it pleased them to 
have her speak to them. 

It was a busy season now, for the win- 
ter trade in skins had opened, and the flat- 
boats were going twice a week to Charles 
Town heavily loaded. 

She was at the warehouse one afternoon 


178 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


with her father, chattering away like a 
tilly hawk in a sparkle-berry bush, as 
Charles delighted in telling her, when a 
voice suddenly accosted Mr. Blew. 

“Want more skins to-day, master?” 

Mr. Blew turned to see his questioner, 
and his face quickly expressed surprise. 

It was an Indian lad who had addressed 
him, or at least one in the garb of an Ind- 
ian. But the words he had spoken had 
been in better English than any Mr. Blew 
had yet heard from the Indians. A sec- 
ond glance showed him that the lad’s 
features, too, were not Indian. 

“Oh, isn’t he nice-looking?” whispered 
Betty. 

This same thought was in Mr. Blew’s 
mind, though he did not speak it. Instead, 
he continued to gaze so steadily at the lad 
that the latter was clearly embarrassed. 
His eyes drooped, and a warm, red color 
began to tinge his cheeks. 


A NEW ACQUAINTANCE 179 

Seeing this, Mr. Blew recovered him- 
self. 

“Your pardon, my lad/’ he said. “I 
should have replied to your question at 
once. Yes, we want all the skins we can 
procure. What kind have you?” 

“ Chiefly those of the wolf and bear, 
master.” 

He felt better now, for the gentleman 
was not looking at him so steadily. 

“ Oh, buy them all, father,” whispered 
Betty again. 

He turned to bestow a smile upon her. 

“ Why, what a rash little merchant you 
would make, Betty, to buy without seeing 
or knowing.” 

“ I am sure his skins are all right, 
father,” declared Betty. 

“What makes you so sure of that, my 
little lady ? ” 

“Why — ” began Betty. 

Then she paused and added quickly : — 


180 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


“ Because, father, he looks as if they 
would be.” 

Mr. Blew smiled, but he was wondering 
why it was that he and Betty were think- 
ing the same thing with reference to the 
boy. 

“ Where are your skins, lad ? ” he asked. 

“ Out in the canoe, master.” 

“’Well, bring them in.” 

“ Oh, father,” exclaimed Betty ere the 
lad was more than out of hearing, “ isn’t 
he just the nicest Indian we’ve, seen yet ? ” 

“ I am not sure that he is an Indian, 
Betty. Indeed, I think he is not.” 

“ Oh, father, do you really? I was think- 
ing that myself, but I was afraid to say 
it. He is very dark.” 

“The most of that is sunburn.” 

“Where did you learn to speak such 
good English ? ” Mr. Blew asked the lad 
as the bargaining for the skins had been 
completed. 



u Where did you learn to speak such good English ? ” asked 

Mr. Blew — Page 180 

























✓ 





































































































A NEW ACQUAINTANCE 181 

“ I have been at both St. Augustine and 
Port Royal, master. At St. Augustine I 
lived five years with the priests. They 
taught me. I can both read and write.” 

“You are not an Indian?” 

Mr. Blew felt the words to be unneces- 
sary, but something impelled him to ask 
them. He had his answer by merely 
glancing into the lad’s face. 

He was a handsome boy, slim and grace- 
ful. His hair, instead of being straight 
and black as an Indian’s, waved over his 
forehead; and though there had been a 
dye put upon it to darken it, the real 
color, a rich soft brown, was showing 
where the dye had worn away. His eyes 
were gray, large, and beautiful, with long 
lashes that swept his cheek. 

It was an attractive face, though a sad 
one. There was a wistful look about the 
mouth and in the eyes now as he raised 
them to Mr. Blew’s face. 


182 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


“ I am not, but I have lived so long 
with Indians I seem as one.” 

“Then you know naught of your par- 
entage ? ” 

Mr. Blew’s heart beat with a quicker 
movement as he asked this question. He 
would not admit to himself why it did. 

“ I do not, master, but somehow the 
thought is with me that I am Spanish. 
I can at least speak that language better 
than any other. Father Jerome said it 
came to me with such ease I - surely must 
have had knowledge of it before.” 

“ No,” declared Mr. Blew, suddenly, “ you 
are English.” 

He continued to gaze at the youth, who 
was again very much embarrassed. But Mr. 
Blew did not note it now. He was pondering 
deeply. His lips were tremulous. A light 
shone in his eyes ; then they grew misty. 

“ Father,” said Betty, “ are you going to 
cry?” 


A NEW ACQUAINTANCE 


188 


But he did not heed her. 

“What do yon know of your parents?” 
he asked the lad suddenly - 

“Only what Chief Tsait-kopta, the Ind- 
ian who raised me, has told me. He 
says that Father Jerome is mistaken; 
that my parents were French ; that my 
father, mother, and all my family were 
killed in the massacre at Port Koyal.” 

“ Oh,” cried Betty, with a shiver, as she 
placed her hands before her eyes, “how 
dreadful ! ” 

The light in Mr. Blew’s eyes began to 
die out. 

“ Can this be true ? ” 

“ He asserts that it is ; that he was 
there and saw .” 

The lad’s voice trembled; a mist came 
into his eyes. 

The light now went entirely out of Mr. 
Blew’s. They, too, looked as though they 
were about to be veiled by a curtain of 


184 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


tears. What sad thoughts filled the heart 
of each ! What hope had been stifled in 
that of Mr. Blew ! 

“ Oh, father,” pleaded Betty, “ don’t look 
so sad. What is the matter ? ” 

He drew her to him and kissed her, 
then went on questioning the lad. 

“By what name are you called?” 

“ Chief Tsait-kopta gave me the name 
of Ton-ke-a-bau. It means ‘ Coming up 
out of the Water.’ He says that the 
Spaniard who slew my mother threw me 
in the waves, and that he rescued me.” 

“ Poor boy ! poor boy ! ” said Betty. 

She had leaned her head against her 
father’s shoulder, and her eyes were full 
of tears. 

The lad looked at her. His own eyes 
were moist, his lips tremulous. 

“You are good to pity me,” he said. 

“I do pity you,” assured Betty. 

“ Is there no one else who has a claim 


A NEW ACQUAINTANCE 


185 


on you besides Chief Tsait-kopta ? ” asked 
Mr. Blew. 

“ Yes, master, there is one other, but I 
do not know just what it is. He comes 
now and then to our village, and more 
than once he and Chief Tsait-kopta have 
had a quarrel about me.” 

u Oh, father,” cried Betty, “ if they 
quarrel about him, may he not come and 
live here? No one would quarrel about 
him here, and all of us would like him. 
I know we should.” 

“ He may not care to come, little 
woman.” 

“ Oh, yes, you would, wouldn’t you ? ” 
asked the little maid, appealing to the 
lad himself. 

He hesitated ere he answered her. There 
was a tender, beautiful light in his eyes 
as he regarded her wistfully for a moment. 
Then the words with which he answered 
her would have done credit to a courtier. 


186 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


“I would like to live anywhere that you 
were, little mistress, but — ” 

“ Oh, why do you say ‘but’?” cried 
Betty. 

“ Because, little mistress, there is Chief 
Tsait-kopta to be asked.” 

“ Then we will ask him,” declared Mis- 
tress Betty. 

“Oh, but, little lady, he will never con- 
sent.” 

“Why will he not consent?” 

Our little Betty was getting somewhat 
imperious now. 

“ Because, mistress, he does not wish 
me to leave him. He used to allow me 
to stay away as long as I pleased, but 
not now. He seems to fear that some 
one will take me from him. Not that I 
should be of much value to any one.” 

A smile of real humor lit up the boy’s face 
now. He looked at Mr. Blew, and there 
was something, too, of a twinkle in his eye. 


A NEW ACQUAINTANCE 187 

“ Oh, yes, you would,” asserted Betty. 
“Any one would be glad of you.” She 
smiled upon him, then added : “ I think it 
would be so nice to have you here. You 
could show us so many things, and help us 
with our games, and find things for us in the 
woods. Wouldn’t it be fine, father?” 

“ It looks that way, Betty.” 

Then he turned somewhat impulsively 
to Ton-ke-a-bau. 

“ If you are not happy in your Indian 
home, and care to come here, there is a 
place for you.” 

The lad’s face showed his pleasure. 

“ I thank you, my master ; but it is 
not so that I can come. I know this 
very well.” 

“I will go myself,” asserted impulsive 
Betty, “and ask Chief — Chief — what is 
his name?” 

“Chief Tsait-kopta. It means c Moun- 
tain of Bears.’ ” 


188 LITTLE BETTY BLEW 

“ Oh, that is a terrible name. Is he 
so very dreadful?” 

The lad hesitated ere he answered : — 

“ There are those who think so, little 
mistress.” 

“Well, he wouldn’t be dreadful to me. 
I’m sure of it. I am going to see him 
the first chance I get, may I not, 
father ? ” 

“We’ll see about that, Mistress Betty. 
In the meantime maybe the chief will 
come here.” 

“He has been talking about it,” said 
Ton-ke-a-bau. 

But no sooner had he said it than he 
looked confused. He turned his eyes away 
from Mr. Blew. He would not even glance 
at Betty. Then he seemed as though he 
wanted to say something further; but he 
did not, at least not on the subject of the 
chief’s coming to the settlement. 

However, Ton-ke-a-bau himself came 


A NEW ACQUAINTANCE 


189 


several times after that, and it was not 
always for the purpose of selling his skins. 
Twice he found the children while they 
were at play in the woods, and so pleasing 
did he make himself that other hearts 
besides Betty’s were given him without 
reserve. Another time he played the gal- 
lant knight to Aunt Joan, rescuing her 
from a most tormenting situation. In at- 
tempting to secure some sprays of wild 
smilax she had fallen a victim of innu- 
merable grass burrs, that covered her 
clothing and pierced her with their sharp 
spines. Not knowing how to deal with 
them, she would but remove one from her 
clothing to have it attach its needle-like 
spines all the more firmly into her finger. 
Just as she was in the midst of the torment, 
and the prospect of release seemed hope- 
less, Ton-ke-a-bau appeared. With a deft- 
ness and grace that surprised and pleased 
her, he soon had her free from the little 


190 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


pests. Conversation had taken place be- 
tween them. His brightness and gentle- 
ness quite won Aunt Joan. She had 
heard, too, his sad story. It stirred her 
heart in a way she could not define. 


CHAPTER XIII 


A SEARCH IN VAIN 

It was only a few evenings after the 
meeting with Ton-ke-a-bau at the ware- 
house that they heard bad tidings. Cap- 
tain John Godfrey, Master Grimball, and 
two other gentlemen who had friends 
among the colonists at Dorchester came 
up the river from Charles Town. They 
had not come just to make a visit, though 
they had been planning such for some 
time. A far more urgent matter had 
brought them. Couriers from the South 
had arrived at Charles Town two days 
before. They brought disturbing news. 
Parties of Spaniards had been among the 
Indians, who held their habitations along 
the outskirts of the Carolina colonists. A 


191 


192 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


disturbed state was said to exist among the 
Westoes. The Kussoes had again made 
open threats against the whites. In view 
of this state of affairs the settlers of Dor- 
chester were urged to seek the protection 
of the fortifications at Charles Town. 
Additional ships would come up the river, 
and their effects could be quickly removed. 
It ought to be done immediately, Captain 
Godfrey urged, for there was no telling 
what a day might bring forth. 

While the colonists felt disturbed over 
these tidings, and two or three of them 
at once decided to prepare to leave for 
Charles Town, all the others stoutly de- 
clared they would stay and take the 
risks. They could not abandon their cattle 
and other business interests. Their fields, 
too, were to be prepared for the spring 
sowing. They had great confidence in 
the strength of their fortifications, as 
well as in their own ability to cope 


A SEARCH IN VAIN 


193 


successfully with even a large band of 
Indians. 

The next morning Captain Godfrey and 
the other gentlemen from Charles Town, to- 
gether with such of the colonists as had 
decided to return with them, took their 
departure. It was a sad farewell, at least 
on their part, for they firmly believed that 
they were leaving their friends and com- 
rades to a dreadful fate. 

However, as the days passed on, and 
there was still no sign of an outbreak 
among the Indians, a more assured feel- 
ing took possession of the colonists. So 
rapidly did this strengthen, that at the 
end of two weeks the more timid ones 
who had gone to Charles Town returned, 
and life at the settlement went on as 
before. 

They resumed their building operations 
with vigor. The trade, too, with the Ind- 
ians, grew brisker. The friendly Kia- 


194 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


whas were friendlier than ever. If any 
mischief were brewing, they assuredly 
knew naught of it. They had taught 
the colonists many useful things, besides 
making them presents of a serviceable na- 
ture. They had given them seeds of corn, 
pease, and pumpkins, and had showed them 
how to put powdered fish-bones in their 
corn hills so as to make the earth fertile. 
The presents for the most part consisted of 
cooking vessels, made of clay and hardened 
by burning, and durable baskets woven of 
rushes and the pliant twigs of the willow. 

Some of the Indians had shown a great 
fondness for the children, and now and 
then played with them. They taught 
them wonderful games of ball, and others 
that had running in them, and the chasing 
and capture of mock wild animals. 

Charles had become the proud possessor of 
a bow and arrows that one of the Indians 
had made for him. It is true that, at Mr. 


A SEARCH IN VAIN 


195 


Blew’s request, the arrows had been finished 
with blunt points ; but this did not seem to 
lessen Charles’s delight. 

They brought Caroline, Betty, and the 
others beautiful pieces of beadwork, small 
hand-bags, moccasins, belts, and the like. 

No wonder that Betty declared again and 
again that the Indians were “ lovely.” 

At last Christmas had come. With 
what eagerness had the children looked 
forward to it. For each year in the old 
home that they could remember it had 
been celebrated in such a way as to bring 
great gladness to their hearts. They knew 
their parents so well, they were quite sure 
that, although they were in a new home, 
and many things about them were still in 
a rude and unfinished state, the present 
Christmas would be made to them as much 
like the old ones as possible. 

Only two other families in the settlement 
besides that of the little Blews would know 


196 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


what it was to celebrate Christmas. For 
these colonists, who had brought with them 
many of the old Puritan prejudices, looked 
with disfavor upon the English church fes- 
tivals, especially Christmas. They deemed 
it a sin for the Saviour’s birthday to be kept 
in any such manner. 

But the Blews and the Roddeys and the 
Portmans had not been long enough away 
from England to grow out of the old merry 
way of keeping Christmas. Then, too, some 
of Mr. Blew’s ancestors had come from Ger- 
many, and what splendid Christmases they 
have there ! 

One custom observed among the Blews 
was that of making wonder-balls. Every 
member, from Father Blew down to the 
youngest child, must have his wonder-ball. 
With what eagerness was the unravelling 
of one’s ball watched by all the others! 
What shouts of laughter, or cries of com- 
mendation, as the case might demand, 


A SEARCH IN VAIN 


197 


greeted each new surprise as the wind- 
ings of yarn were removed ! 

These balls were made of either cotton 
or of wool. They were often very large and 
altogether misshapen, for wound all through 
them, fastened here and there to the threads, 
were the most delightful gifts, or comic ones, 
as the giver had designed, each carefully 
wrapped in its muslin covering. 

In addition to the wonder-balls the little 
Blews had their Christmas bush. It was a 
beautiful holly, with the red berries gleam- 
ing all through it, and lit by tiny candles 
which mother and Aunt Joan had made 
from the berries of the wax myrtle. Every 
one was remembered, even Simon Dale and 
Miranda Welch. 

On Christmas Day there was visiting be- 
tween the three families, an exchange of 
gifts, and in the early afternoon a dinner 
to which all sat down. Ere dispersing, por- 
tions of the Psalms were read, a part of the 


198 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


catechism repeated by the younger ones, and 
hymns of praise sung by all. 

Betty had confided to Aunt Joan that she 
wanted some gift placed on the holly bush 
for Ton-ke-a-bau ; and she hoped up to the 
last she would see him, so that she might 
tell him in time what was to be done on 
Christmas Eve. But though she searched 
for him patiently, she did not find him. 
The little gift, however, — a pair cf mittens, 
which she and Aunt Joan together had ac- 
complished, — was laid away until he should 
appear. Betty even carried them about with 
her when she went to the river bank to play, 
or to bear kernels of the dried corn to Sir 
Thomas, who had gone into winter quarters, 
but who never failed to show himself in the 
opening of his lodge at her call. 

All the time she was hoping she would 
see Ton-ke-a-bau somewhere. Her strong- 
est hope was that he would come to one of 
the religious services, for he had promised 


A SEARCH IN VAIN 


199 


Aunt Joan he would. Thus the very next 
Sabbath after Christmas, as Betty started 
away from the house, even before the 
drum sounded, her gaze kept wandering 
from side to side, searching for Ton-ke- 
a-bau. She took up a position near the 
entrance to the fort, her eyes still wist- 
fully regarding every face that went by. 
There were several Indians, more than 
the usual number, but nowhere was the 
lad to be seen. 

“Why, darling,” said Aunt Joan as 
she came up beside her, “ why did you 
run away so ? I looked for you as I was 
starting, but they told me you had al- 
ready gone. Why so early, my little Betty, 
for the drum has not even yet been 
sounded ? ” 

“ Oh, aunt, I came because I thought 
I might see Ton-ke-a-bau somewhere in 
the crowd on the outside of the fort. It 
is too bad he has not gotten his mittens. 


200 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


I fear me the cold weather will be gone 
ere he knows aught of them.” 

“And have you found him yet, my 
Betty?” 

“No, aunt.” 

“Perhaps, then, he was already within 
the fort when you came.” 

“No, aunt dear, for I saw the guards- 
men open the great door. Not many 
have gone in yet besides the minister and 
the elder, and Ton-ke-a-bau was not one 
of them.” 

“ Too bad,” said Aunt Joan, for she, 
too was disappointed. 

“Well, perhaps he may come yet,” she 
added consolingly; “and if not this Sab- 
bath, then the next.” 

The great hall had taken on more of 
the appearance of a place of religious ser- 
vice. A pulpit had been improvised. In 
front of it was an elevated seat for the 
elder, and lower down a much larger one 


A SEARCH IN VAIN 


201 


for the deacons. The seats for the con- 
gregation were so arranged that the men 
and boys sat on one side, the women and 
girls on the other. 

Soon after Aunt Joan and Betty entered 
two or three Indians came in. With one 
eye on the elder, Betty ventured to turn 
her head the least bit. The sight of the 
Indian dress made her heart thump. 
Ton-ke-a-bau, however, was not in the 
group. 

But Betty could take no more stolen 
glances, for now the minister had risen, — 
the signal to all that they were to rise 
for the first long prayer. 

I fear my little Betty did not hear 
much of the sermon that day, for her 
thoughts would constantly wander to 
Ton-ke-a-bau. But if she had tried to 
follow the minister, how weary she would 
have grown. For that day, it is recorded, 
he no less than three times turned the hour 


202 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


glass — with its half hour’s running of sand 
— while he was preaching. Do you think 
you would have liked to go to church in 
those days? 

Betty could scarcely sit still while the 
elder was lining out the Psalm and all 
people were singing it, she was so impa- 
tient to have the services close that she 
might look around for Ton-ke-a-bau. 

Again our Betty was doomed to dis- 
appointment, since nowhere in the crowd 
that day, either within the fort or with- 
out, was he to be seen. 

However, despite these disappointments, 
Betty did not give. up her search for her 
new friend. She had her father, too, on 
the lookout for him. He had promised 
her that, just the very first time Ton-ke- 
a-bau appeared at the warehouse, he would 
send him to the dwelling. 

It was well for the peace of mind of 
our tender-hearted little Betty that she 


A SEARCH IN VAIN 


203 


did not have news of Ton-ke-a-bau at this 
period. For the tidings would have given 
her sore distress. The lad had fallen 
upon troublous times. The Indian to whom 
he had referred as having a claim upon 
him, which Chief Tsait-kopta so vigor- 
ously opposed, had begun to visit the 
village again after a long absence, and 
the old contention had broken out afresh 
between them. The Indian seemed to 
have brought some piece of information 
that disturbed the chief greatly. The 
result of this was that Ton-ke-a-bau was 
kept quite closely under the chief’s eye 
and forbidden to leave the village. He 
wondered more than ever what the feud 
could be about, and how it was that he 
had so close a part in it. 


CHAPTER XIV 

TON-KE-A-BAU AT LAST 

“ Our Betty is ailing this morning/’ said 
Aunt Joan at breakfast. 

“ Why, what can be the matter ? ” asked 
the Beautiful, in sudden alarm. 

“ Anything serious with the little maid ? ” 
queried Mr. Blew, and his face, too, showed 
deep concern. 

“ I think it is no more than a cold,” re- 
assured Aunt Joan. “ She is shivery, and 
complains of an ache in her bones.” 

“Then we must send at once for the 
elder,” said Mrs. Blew. 

This referred to Elder Pratt, who had a 
turn to medicine, and was really, at that 
time, the only physician in the colony. He 
204 


TON-KE-A-BA U AT LAST 


205 


was proud of his knowledge, which had 
been enlarged since coming to this new 
home through various hints and helps 
received from the Indians. 

“He will be sure to give her brimstone,” 
cried Charles. 

“ B’im’tone an’ honey, oow ! ” squeaked 
Daniel. 

His screwed-up face showed plainly that 
he had had some experience with the 
remedy. 

“ Or maybe it will be the powdered toad 
and wax,” added Charles. “ Phew ! I had 
that once.” 

“ Because it was bleeding at the nose that 
ailed you,” said his mother. “ The elder 
knows what he is about, for there’s many 
a one here that might have been gone but 
for his remedies.” 

“ But, Beautiful, I think it is very cruel 
the way he treats the frogs. He does not 
first kill them, and then dry them in the 


206 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


oven as he once did, but since old Is-mul-ga, 
the Indian, told him it was a better way, 
he now hangs them up by the leg alive 
until they are dead and dried .” 1 

The Beautiful shuddered. It was evident 
that she, too, could not approve the elder’s 
method. But she did not say this. Instead, 
she spoke a little sternly to Charles. 

“You must not criticise the elder. He 
no doubt does it because of the more virtue 
there will be in the frog’s body.” 

“ Oh, but, Beautiful — ” 

“ That is enough, Charles. Your break- 
fast awaits you. So soon as you have 
finished you must go and bid the elder 
here.” 

When Elder Pratt saw Betty, he said it 
was not a cold that had seized upon her. 
The sneezing and shivering came from a 

1 Which is exactly the mode of proceeding jotted down 
by the elder himself in his diary and receipt book, still 
preserved by his descendants at Easton, Massachusetts. 


TON-KE-A-BAU AT LAST 207 

run-down condition of her system. So he 
prescribed “the youlk of a new-layd eag 
and some good win [wine] mixt together 
every morning/’ by which it can easily be 
seen that Master William Pratt, though a 
ruling elder in the church, did not object 
to the use of wine. Doubtless he agreed 
with Paul that “a little” was good “for 
the stomach’s sake,” — the “ stomach-ache,” 
as a little friend of the writer once con- 
strued it. 

Betty had deep regard for Elder Pratt. 
Though he knew so much and really had a 
stern look, yet he was very pleasant with 
children he liked, and our little maid was 
assuredly one of these. When, eight years 
afterward, he left the colony because of his 
health, our Betty, then a tall, fine lass of 
eighteen, shed many tears, and later very 
bitter ones indeed when the news came of 
the elder’s death in 1713. 

You can find his tomb to this day in the 


208 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


old cemetery at Easton, Massachusetts. The 
lettering of the epitaph is very quaint and 
rude. Here it is as one copied it for me : — 

HERE - LIES - the - BODY 
of - ELDER - WILLIAM - 
PRATT - AGE 54 - DIED 
IN - the - YEA - 1713 - 
I ANY ARY - the - 13. 

It was the fifth day of Betty’s illness. 
She was evidently getting better ; but 
whether or not on the elder’s remedies, 
it would be hard to say. Doubtless the 
careful nursing of Aunt Joan and the Beau- 
tiful had much to do with the little girl’s 
steady recovery. However, as they took no 
credit, and the elder took all, we’ll have to 
let it go this way. 

“ Oh, Betty,” cried Charles, rushing into 
the room in a manner that caused the Beau- 
tiful to reprove him, “who do you think 
has come?” 


TON-KE-A-BAU AT LAST 209 

“Emily,” was Betty’s prompt rejoinder. 
“ Oh, I am so glad. I haven’t seen her since 
the day before yesterday.” 

“No; it is not Emily, though she said 
she was coming this afternoon.” 

“Then it is Mistress Harriet Roddey. 
How kind of her to come to see a little girl 
like me. Oh, I do love Mistress Harriet. 
She is so gentle and good, and she has such 
a sweet voice and soft hand.” 

“But it is not Mistress Harriet,” cried 
Charles. “You’ll have to guess again. 
’Deed, Mistress Betty, it isn’t one o’ your 
kind at all. You needn’t think it is only 
Mistress So-and-so, or little Mistress This- 
and-that, who thinks enough of you to come 
when you are sick. Methinks there may be 
masters, too, liking to see our Betty.” 

“ It is never Captain Gabriel now ! ” and 
Betty clapped her hands with the delight 
of it. “ Oh, me ! me ! me ! how glad I am, 
so glad I could jump out of the bed and 


210 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


skip about. But I thought our dear cap- 
tain was yet in Charles Town.” 

“ And so he is, Mistress Betty,” said 
Charles, enjoying her mystified face. 

u Then who can it be ? You must tell 
me, Master Tease, for I cannot wait another 
minute. Oh, Beautiful, do you not think 
he ought to tell me?” 

“ Yes, my Betty, I do.” 

“ Come, Charles, you must not longer 
hold your sister on the strain of guessing. 
It is not good for her that you should keep 
her in such suspense.” 

“ Dear Beautiful,” entreated Charles, 
“ don’t say I must tell her this. I want it 
to be a surprise. Let me whisper it to you, 
then you can see why I do not tell her.” 

“ Ah ! ” exclaimed his mother when he 
had concluded. “ Then hasten and bid him 
up. It will indeed be a glad surprise to 
our Betty, for she has been talking about 
him ever since she has been sick. But you 


T ON-KE-A -BA U AT LAST 211 

must not keep her longer thinking about it, 
Charles. She is feverish now from excite- 
ment.’’ 

“ I will go at once for him, mother, for 
he is as anxious as Betty. He says he has 
something for her.” 

A few moments later the door opened, 
and Charles ushered in — Ton-ke-a-bau. 

Such a light as came into Betty’s face as 
she saw him. She sat right up in bed and 
held out her hand to him. 

“Oh, Ton-ke-a-bau,” she said, “I am so 
glad you have come ! I thought we were 
not going to see you again.” 

u It is not that I did not want to come, 
little mistress,” he replied, and now the face 
that had brightened so at Betty’s welcome 
grew sad again. “ I have been kept away.” 

“ By Chief Tsait-kopta ? ” asked Betty, 
quickly. 

His eyes fell before her inquiring gaze, 
but he answered her after a moment : — 


212 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


“ Yes, little mistress.” 

“ Oh,” declared Betty, “ 1 don’t believe I 
am going to like him when I see him. He 
ought not to do that way. We have all 
wanted to see you, and so much. Is it not 
true, Beautiful ? ” 

She had turned to her mother now, who, 
she suddenly remembered, did not know 
Ton-ke-a-bau. But Betty had talked to her 
so much about the lad, that she, too, had 
more than once expressed the wish that she 
might see him. 

“ Beautiful,” continued Betty, “ this is 
Ton-ke-a-bau.” Then she added with the 
utmost simplicity, “ Isn’t he nice ? ” 

The lad blushed at the words ; but 
though they embarrassed him, they did not 
make him awkward. 

He turned and bowed with the grace of 
a young knight to the beautiful lady sitting 
on the other side of the bed. He had 
learned this from seeing gentlemen at 


TON-KE-A-BAU AT LAST 


213 


Charles Town and St. Augustine make this 
courteous obeisance when in the presence of 
ladies. 

The Beautiful gave him her hand. She 
had already given him her eyes, and from 
the moment he had entered. Their glance 
was still fixed upon his face with a light 
deep and glowing. It was the expression 
of eyes looking upon that which not only 
pleased them, but pleased them greatly. 

Certainly he was a picture fair to look 
upon as he stood there with his chin well 
up now, his beautiful head uncovered and 
bare of any of the ornamentation one would 
have expected to see with his Indian 
dress. 

He had prepared himself with scrupulous 
care for this visit. The hunting shirt of 
buckskin was beautifully embroidered with 
beads, so, too, were the fringed leggings and 
moccasins, and all were new. About his 
throat was a collar of wampum, exquisitely 


214 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


wrought and finished with a fringe of elk’s 
teeth. 

His whole attire showed a neatness and 
cleanliness altogether unusual in the Ind- 
ians who frequented the settlement. The 
eyes of the Beautiful were quick to note 
this. The dye with which his hair had 
once been stained had been allowed to 
wear off completely, so that now his hair 
fell to his shoulders in curling waves of its 
own glossy brown color. 

He was indeed a handsome lad, especially 
as he stood there now, regarding Mrs. Blew 
with eyes that shone like wells of light, the 
long dark lashes curled upward from his 
cheeks. 

“ Oh, Ton-ke-a-bau,” said Betty again, “ I 
have been wanting to see you so. You 
can never guess what I have for you. It 
is something Aunt Joan and I made, and 
we have been keeping it all this time. 
Yes, six weeks and more. Just think how 


T ON-KE-A -BA U AT LAST 215 

long since you were here,” and she looked 
at him again reproachfully. 

“ I know, little mistress, but Ton-ke-a-bau 
could not help it. I am only come now be- 
cause the chief himself sent me, and with 
a message to the fort. But I wanted to 
come all that time, not only that I might 
see you, but that I might bring this. You, 
little mistress, have said you have something 
for me. So, too, have I for you.” 

“ What can it be ? ” asked Charles, who 
for some time had felt his curiosity excited 
by the little casket, skilfully wrought of pine 
bark, that Ton-ke-a-bau so carefully grasped. 

“ I do believe it is something alive” he 
added, as he noted the many tiny holes 
bored in the box as though for air. 

In the centre of one side there was a 
hole very much larger than the others, at 
least an inch in diameter. 

“ See ! see ! Let Dinkie see,” cried Dan- 
iel, as he, too, approached Ton-ke-a-bau, and 


216 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


tried to peer through the larger hole in 
the box. 

At that very moment, Ton-ke-a-bau hav- 
ing turned the box so that the portion con- 
taining this opening inclined downward, 
a small, rounded head with glittering black 
eyes, and tapering to a slender neck, sud- 
denly darted outward. 

“ Oh, attienake ! attienake ! ” cried Dan- 
iel, and sprang back at once toward his 
mother. 

“What does he say?” asked Ton-ke-a- 
bau of Charles. 

“He says that it is a rattlesnake.” 

“ Not so, little master, ” quickly ex- 
claimed Ton-ke-a-bau. “ Surely you do not 
believe I would bring little mistress any- 
thing so dreadful as that ? ” and he looked 
reproachfully at Daniel. 

“ Me see eye ! me see head ! Oh, wiggie 
[wiggle], wiggie so, like nakie [snakie],” 
and he moved his finger from side to side. 


TON-KE-A-BA U AT LAST 


217 


“ It has a head like a snake/’ declared 
Charles ; “ 1 saw it too.” 

While these words were passing back 
and forth, the Beautiful had been regard- 
ing Ton-ke-a-bau anxiously. Betty, too, 
seemed shy of the pine-bark casket. 

“ I can’t believe, young friend,” said the 
Beautiful, “ that you would bring my little 
girl anything unsafe for her to handle, or 
that would even annoy her.” 

“No, lady, no,” he quickly assured her, 
and his gray eyes looked at her in a way 
that made her at once regret she had had 
for so much as a moment this doubt of him. 

“ What I have for little mistress will 
please her greatly, and it can do her no 
harm, believe me. It is very gentle. I 
have myself tamed it. It will soon learn 
her voice and love her, and will come at 
her call. Even now it knows many little 
ways that will amuse her, and it can be 
taught others,” 


218 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


“ Oh, what is it ? ” cried Betty. 

Her eyes yrere shining, her hand ex- 
tended. It seemed she could scarcely 
wait till he opened .the pine-bark recep- 
tacle, so great was her curiosity now con- 
cerning its contents. 

What had Ton-ke-a-bau brought her? 

“See, little mistress, see,” he cried. 

He had slid back a small panel now, 
and the words were no more than uttered 
when out popped a tiny brown head with 
eyes like two shining beads, and following 
it a body almost as round as a saucer, 
though only half so large. This body, too, 
was brown, though darker than the head, 
and sprinkled over it were spots of yellow. 

“ A cooter ! a coo ter ! ” almost shouted 
Charles. “ Look out, Betty, he is going to 
fall on you.” 

But Ton-ke-a-bau was too careful for that. 
His hand was outstretched quickly, and the 
next moment the little brown and yellow 


TON-KE-A-BAU AT LAST 


219 


terrapin slid down gently to a place beside 
Betty. 

There it rested perfectly still, with the 
exception of the tiny head which swayed 
slowly from side to side, its eyes regarding 
Betty with an inquiring look, that said 
plainly, “ What will you do with me ? ” 

She put out her hand fearlessly and 
stroked it. 

It turned its head to one side to receive 
the caress and with evident pleasure. 

“ See, little mistress ! ” exclaimed Ton- 
ke-a-bau. 

He made a clucking sound. In quick 
response the terrapin turned over upon its 
back and lay with feet and tail poked out 
from its shell, the latter wiggling in a man- 
ner that caused Daniel to shriek out his 
enjoyment. 

Ton-ke-a-bau clucked once more, and over 
turned Master Terrapin again, this time 
righting himself on his little yellow stomach. 


220 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


There were other fine tricks that he knew, 
in all of which Ton-ke-a-bau exhibited him 
to the overwhelming delight of the children. 

As to Betty, she could not thank Ton- 
ke-a-bau enough for this wonderful pet. 
He told her how to care for it, allowing it 
to have a small tub of water at hand into 
which it might go when it desired. 

For a time it seemed that the little brown 
and yellow terrapin, to which Betty gave 
the name of Prince Clarence, would quite 
outrival Sir Thomas. 


CHAPTER XY 


INNOCENT FOR GUILTY 

The spring had come again. It was 
now fifteen months since the little colony 
from Dorchester, Massachusetts, had landed 
on the banks of the Ashley. So rapidly 
had the new Dorchester grown that it was 
now a smart village of nearly one thousand 
souls. For other pilgrims had from month 
to month followed that first courageous 
little band. 

All this time the Indians had remained 
friendly, though rumors continued to come 
that had in them threats of an uprising 
against the whites of more than one tribe. 
There was uneasiness, too, with reference to 
the Spaniards, whose movements of late had 
been very suspicious. A sloop had been 
seen only a mile or so below the fort. 


221 


222 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


When a scouting party from the village 
went to investigate matters, the vessel had 
disappeared. 

One point of information acquired by the 
colonists had given them more unrest than 
any other. It had come through Chi-co-la, 
and had been confided to Mr. Blew. It was 
to the effect that Tsait-kopta, chief of the 
Westoes, had undoubtedly assumed a threat- 
ening attitude toward the colonies. 

He claimed to have a grievance which he 
had made an effort to have adjusted. As he 
had no just ground for what he demanded, 
no attention had been paid to his claims, 
the last, one of which had been borne to the 
commandant of the fort by Ton-ke-a-bau on 
the morning he had paid the visit to Betty. 

He had not been back to the village 
since. Betty had sore grief over this when 
she learned the cause of his absence. Even 
the Beautiful had a longing to see the hand- 
some, engaging boy again. Only Prince 


INNOCENT FOR GUILTY 223 

Clarence seemed indifferent to his continued 
absence. He had adapted himself with the 
utmost content to his new surroundings, 
and was as deeply attached to his present 
owner as though the former one had never 
existed. 

One morning, at the beginning of April, 
Betty and Charles had been sent to look 
for two stray calves. They were warned, 
on account of the disturbing rumors con- 
cerning the Indians, not to go beyond a 
certain limit. But so interested did they 
become in the search, that they were much 
beyond the bound prescribed ere they 
realized it. They had just started to re- 
trace their steps, when they heard a sound 
faint, it is true, but sufficient to attract 
their attention. Looking up, this is what 
they saw : — 

An Indian, his face smeared with paint, 
a bunch of eagle feathers in his long black 
hair, and clad in fringed buckskin shirt and 


224 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


leggings was creeping slowly and cautiously 
through a tangle of myrtle bushes that 
lined the bank of the creek. Across his 
shoulders was hung his quiver of arrows, 
fastened by a deerskin thong. In one hand 
he carried a bow and in the other a har- 
poon, at the end of which was a sharp- 
pointed barb. 

As Charles and Betty stood and watched 
him from the corner of a cane-brake not 
more than fifty feet away, their hearts 
began to beat rapidly. Was he not bent 
on mischief ? Might he not even kill them ? 
How quickly they began to repent that 
they had come so far away from the clear- 
ing. Yes, they had strayed on and on, 
until now they were almost upon one of 
the dreadful Indians. Charles, at least, 
was sure of it. 

“Oh, Betty, if he keeps straight on in 
this way, he’ll be sure to see us presently. 
Sister, sister, what are we to do ? ” 


INNOCENT FOR GUILTY 


225 


Charles had grown very white. He 
turned his head away suddenly. I am not 
sure but that he was planning to run. But 
the next words from Betty reassured him. 

“ He’s not coming this way, brother,” 
she whispered back, “ I’m sure he’s not. 
There, he is turning more away from us. 
Oh, I don’t b’lieve he’d hurt us even if 
he saw us. He really seems a very nice 
sort of Indian.” 

Despite his fears, Charles felt inclined 
to laugh. He did give Betty the ghost 
of a smile. 

“I do believe, Mistress Elizabeth,” he 
said, “ that you would think the Indian who 
was about to slay you was a 4 nice sort of 
Indian,’ ” — here he turned to mimic Betty, 
— “ or that he had ‘ a lovely smile ’ as the 
Cacique had. Why — ” 

Charles broke off suddenly and almost 
exclaimed aloud in the excitement that 
seized him. 


226 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


“ Oh, now I know what that old fellow 
is after. Come, Betty, let us creep nearer 
and watch him. I’ve found out who he 
is. I’ve seen him before. It’s Pan-tau-tle, 
or, ‘ Poor Buffalo,’ as they call him. He’s a 
glum one, and so the other Indians don’t like 
him much, neither do our folks. I heard 
them talking about it at the warehouse. 
I don’t know what he’s done, but they’ve 
told him not to come within the village. 
I wonder he’s so bold as to be this near.” 

As Charles held out his hand to guide 
Betty through the brake, she said : — 

“I think we oughtn’t to follow him, 
Charles. It wouldn’t be kind to watch 
him. Then it might make him very angry 
if he saw us.” 

“Oh, he’ll not see us. You can trust 
me for that. Do come on, Betty, it will 
be such fun to watch what he is going to 
do, and it’s no harm.” 

Betty allowed herself to be piloted 


INNOCENT FOR GUILTY 


227 


through the canes by Charles, though it 
was still with a feeling of reluctance. All 
the while she kept wondering what it could 
be that the Indian was going to do in which 
Charles was taking such an interest. She 
soon found out. 

Pan-tau-tle might have been at other 
times a very disagreeable Indian, but he 
certainly was not at present bent on any 
errand of mischief. It was a very harm- 
less pursuit, indeed, since it meant no more 
than the adding to his breakfast. For in 
the past two days Poor Buffalo had trav- 
elled a long distance, with nothing better 
through all that time with which to stay 
his hunger than the parched corn in his 
buckskin pouch. He wanted now a trout 
from the creek. Boiled in leaves and 
baked in the ashes, it would furnish a 
meal fit for the Cacique himself. 

He knew a little cove, deep and almost 
silent, save for the gurgling of the water as 


228 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


it lapped against the embankment. Trout 
were occasionally seen near the surface, as 
they came upward to sport in the sunlight. 
A noiseless foot, a quick eye, a deft stroke, 
and Pan-tau-tle would have his breakfast. 

Just as the Indian had reached the 
creek’s bank, Charles and Betty, after creep- 
ing cautiously through the cane-brake, came 
to where they had a clear view of him. 

He could in turn have seen them, but 
for the intentness of the gaze he had 
fixed upon the water. 

“The old fellow is after a fish,” said 
Charles. “ Just watch me spoil his fun.” 

As he spoke he picked up a small chunk 
of light wood. 

“ Oh, Charles, what can you be going to 
do ? ” whispered Betty. 

There was entreaty in the words as well 
as question. It said plainly, “ Oh, if it is 
something wrong you are thinking of, 
please don’t do it,” 


INNOCENT FOR GUILTY 229 

But Charles paid no heed. He felt a 
very brave man then, much braver than 
he did a moment later. 

Pan-tamtle crept nearer the edge of the 
creek. Almost breathlessly he leaned over 
it. Yes, there were his fish, two as fine 
fellows as ever served for an Indian’s 
breakfast. He singled out the one he de- 
sired. Then he straightened himself; his 
right arm flew upward. In another mo- 
ment the trout would have been transfixed 
by the sharp barb at the end of the reed 
harpoon. But at that moment a chunk 
of light wood came whirling through the 
air and fell with a loud splash into the 
stream, both trout instantly disappearing. 

“ Fly, Betty ! ” Charles whispered hur- 
riedly, and waited not a moment himself. 

To do him justice, he thought that Betty 
was close behind him. 

With a cry of anger Pan-tau-tle looked 
up, but in the wrong direction. When he 


230 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


did look in the right one, this is what he 
saw : — 

A small figure standing well out from 
the edge of the cane-brake, and .with hand 
upraised exactly as though it had hurled 
the missile. This was all the more con- 
clusive, since there was no other living 
thing in sight. Poor Betty, so overcome 
was she both by Charles’s act and his flight, 
that she had remained for an instant speech- 
less and motionless. Then she had started 
toward Pan-tau-tle as though she would beg 
his forgiveness ; but overcome by doubt as 
to how she would be received, she had 
stopped again. It was exactly at this 
moment that Pan-tau-tle saw her, even as 
she had her hand upraised to him in en- 
treaty. 

“ Hi-ya ! hi-ya ! ” cried Pan-tau-tle, his 
eyes in a blaze. Then he sprang toward 
her, the harpoon with its glistening barb 
upraised. 


INNOCENT FOR GUILTY 231 

Had our poor little Betty’s last hour 
come ? Was she really to suffer death 
in this horrible way because of Charles’s 
deed ? 

Betty sank pale and trembling upon the 
sand, but she still kept her eyes fixed 
steadily upon Pan-tau-tle. It was indeed a 
terrible sight on which she gazed. Even 
she, brave and gentle little lady that she 
was, could see nothing either “ nice ” or 
“ lovely ” in it. The Indian’s savage face, 
its ferocity heightened by the smearings of 
paint, his eyes ablaze with anger, the up- 
lifted spear — all these were enough to 
strike terror to the stoutest heart. What, 
then, must our little Betty have felt ? 

Something in the child’s gaze arrested 
Pan-tau-tle. The light in his eyes waned, 
the spear dropped suddenly downward. It 
was doubtless, after all, that even if she had 
not looked at him so, he could not have 
done the terrible thing he seemed about 


232 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


to do. He was not such a bad Indian at 
heart. Misunderstanding and man’s injus- 
tice had helped to make him what he was. 

He approached Betty and stooped over 
her. Then he grasped her suddenly, and 
with many deep grunts started with her 
toward the water. Was he going to throw 
her into the creek, giving her a chance to 
get out again ? He assuredly meant to pun- 
ish her in some way, Betty felt convinced. 

It never occurred to Betty to try to make 
herself understood by him, and to let him 
know that she had had nothing to do with 
the trick that had been played on him, 
whereby he had lost his breakfast. In 
that event, she would draw his attention 
to Charles, and perhaps upon the whole 
settlement. He would doubtless go away, 
arouse the Indians, and return with them 
for an attack on the village. She would 
far rather suffer herself than to have such 
a dreadful thing as this happen. 


INNOCENT FOR GUILTY 


233 


Pan-tau-tle was very angry. She could 
see it, but she did not now believe that he 
would kill her. She knew a little about 
swimming; Simon Dale had taught her. 
She might manage to keep her head above 
the water. The current would carry her 
slowly down toward the fort; then she 
would be seen. But perhaps, after all, 
the Indian meant only to dip her, as a 
punishment, and he would himself take 
her out of the water. She kept quite 
still in his grasp, not making any effort 
to struggle, neither did she scream. Yet 
our little Betty was frightened now. How 
could she help but be ? Her face was 
very white, and her mouth had a piteous, 
drawn look. Her heart was jumping 
so that it seemed Pan-tau-tle must surely 
think it a bird beating its wings against 
him. 

It was no wonder Betty was frightened, 
despite the confidence she had both ex- 


234 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


pressed and shown in the Indians. For 
this was such a forbidding-looking Indian, 
and he kept exclaiming to himself so an- 
grily all the while. 

He reached the creek bank with Betty, 
and the little girl fully expected the next 
moment to feel the shock of the plunge 
and to go down under the dark cold water. 
She shut her eyes thinking of it. 

Pan-tau-tle lifted her in his arms. They 
were going straight up over his head. 
There ! he surely was about to throw 
her now. But, no ; suddenly he lowered 
her, and looked for a moment into her 
face. Then he shook his head, and seemed 
uncertain what to do. And the longer Pan- 
tau-tle looked into Betty’s gray eyes, the 
more uncertain he grew. 

He grunted with dissatisfaction ; with 
some disgust, too. These grunts surely 
were meant for himself, for he didn’t 
look dissatisfied with Betty. There was 



Raising iiis harpoon, Pan-tau-tle stepped away from Betty 

Page 235 











. 



‘ 












































































































INNOCENT FOR GUILTY 235 

more of an astonished look on his face as 
he fastened his eyes on her. 

Suddenly he seemed to have come to a 
decision, for he gave Betty a whirl in his 
arms, and brought her to a seat on the 
ground. He didn’t let her come down 
with such dreadful force, but there was 
enough to shake her up somewhat, and 
she gave her tongue a painful little snip 
as her teeth came together. The tears 
were about to rust into her eyes, but 
she made a brave effort and held them 
back. 

Raising his harpoon, Pan-tau-tle stepped 
away from Betty. He still looked steadily 
into her eyes. Again Betty’s never wavered, 
though they were dewy with a suspicion of 
tears. 

Higher went the harpoon, then with 
sudden, whirring sound it flew straight 
toward Betty and, entering a fold of her 
frock, pinned her to the ground. 


CHAPTER XYI 

RESCUE 

Betty still did not cry out, though a 
convulsive shudder passed through her, 
and she pressed her fingers over her 
eyes. 

Pan-tau-tle sprang to her, drew her 
hands away from her eyes, and looked at 
her again closely, steadily. 

Then he said : — 

“ Girl funny. No cry. No scream. 
No give noise any kind. Make feel 
bad,” indicating himself. 

Then, wagging his head with sudden 
conviction : — 

“Girl it no do. No ’fraid ’nough. Me 
know. Boy — yes; all boy.” 

236 


RESCUE 


237 


With these words he turned to scrutinize 
the edges of the cane-brake, as though he 
expected to find the boy there. But no 
boy was in sight, so he grunted again. 

“ Make heap trouble for girl. Then 
run leave her. Pan-tau-tle know. Blind 
not see before. No girl hand throw chunk 
so heap far, so straight. No girl so 
mean” 

But though he had come to this con- 
clusion, he did not relax his vigilance over 
Betty. He was a bad Indian and had 
been made so chiefly through the torment- 
ing of others. So he liked to torment 
in return. 

He gave a sudden low whoop that made 
Betty start so she almost fell again into 
his arms. And no wonder, for though the 
whoop was low, it had been given almost 
in her face. 

A great idea had struck Pan-tau-tle. It 
spurred him to all the quicker action be- 


238 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


cause it had used as a prick the thought 
of revenge. 

The white people had treated him badly. 
They believed the tales the Indians told 
on him. They had forbidden him the 
settlement. Therefore he had no market 
for his skins, unless he carried them all 
the way to Charles Town. They had 
made him suffer, now he would strike 
back. Betty individually was for the time 
forgotten. He thought only of his revenge. 
Yes, he would strike through her. Why 
not, since now she was in his power? 

All the while Pan-tau-tle had been 
going through these manoeuvres with 
Betty he had kept his eye on the settle- 
ment, or rather the direction of the settle- 
ment, for naught of it could be seen from 
this point. He was evidently not so sure 
as to what had become of the boy. He 
might be lingering about, but it was more 
likely that, after discovering the plight 


RESCUE 


239 


of the girl, he had gone to summon aid. 
He, Pan-tau-tle, had been very foolish to 
stay there so long. 

With a sudden movement he drew his 
harpoon from Betty’s dress. Then, sling- 
ing it over his back, he made ready to 
grasp Betty. If he really intended to 
carry out the plan of bearing her into 
captivity, then the sooner he acted the 
better for him. 

He leaned over Betty. In another mo- 
ment he would have slung her to his 
shoulder as he so often did the deer he 
had slain. But in that moment he felt 
his arms pinioned from behind. 

“ Wretch,” spoke a voice almost in his 
ear. “What does this mean? What are 
you about to do ? ” 

Pan-tau-tle gave no reply. Instead, he 
turned himself, as well as he could, and 
began to grapple with the one who held 
him. 


240 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


It was Ton-ke-a-bau. 

The moment Betty saw him, a glad 
cry escaped her. Ah, now indeed a friend 
had come. 

But in a few moments more Betty’s glad 
cry was changed to one of terror. For Pan- 
tau-tle was much the larger and stronger 
of the two, and he was now twisting Ton- 
ke-a-bau about in a way that Betty could 
see gave the lad great pain. 

He was a plucky lad, however, and 
would not give up the hope — now, alas ! 
growing smaller and smaller — of over- 
coming Pan-tau-tle and rescuing Betty. 

Unable longer to endure the sight of 
Ton-ke-a-bau’ s suffering, Betty courageously 
sprang to assist him all in her small power. 

She tugged and tore at Pan-tau-tle, even 
biting his hands in the hope of getting 
him to release Ton-ke-a-bau. Betty cried 
about this afterward, and wondered again 
and again if she had hurt Pan-tau-tle. 


RESCUE 


241 


u Oh, I do hope I didn’t/’ she sobbed 
Dut on her mother’s breast. “ It is dread- 
ful if I did. All I thought about was to 
get him to let go of Ton-ke-a-bau.” 

The struggle was growing desperate for 
Ton-ke-a-bau, for Pan-tau-tle was now 
deeply enraged. The lad tried to speak 
to him, to get a cessation of hostilities 
long enough to parley with him. But in 
vain. He would pay no heed. The lad 
had dared to make the attack upon him, 
to interfere with what he had planned. 
He should now suffer for it. 

“ Oh, please,” begged Betty, “ oh, please, 
Master Indian, let him go. You will kill 
him.” 

The words were no more than spoken 
when a sound caught Betty’s ear. A 
canoe was coming up the creek. Whoever 
rowed, rowed swiftly. She gave a little 
shout. 

It was immediately answered. Then 


242 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


came another and another in the direction 
of the creek. 

Pan-tau-tle, too, heard. What brought 
joy to Betty brought alarm to him. It 
meant that others were coming, others 
who were enemies. As they were no 
doubt many, the only safe way for him 
was in flight. But the boy still clung to 
him, though his grasp had weakened. In 
a few moments more Pan-tau-tle would 
have him completely at his mercy. But 
those moments meant delay, a fatal delay, 
beyond doubt, for Pan-tau-tle. For while 
the boy clung to him, there was no chance 
of flight. 

Rendered desperate, Pan-tau-tle reached 
for the knife in his belt. I want to be- 
lieve that he meant only to strike at the 
boy’s hands and arms so as to cause him 
to let go his hold. For Pan-tau-tle knew 
at whom he struck, and there was reason 
why, despite that he had been the one 


RESCUE 


243 


attacked, his hand should have been 
stayed. 

But Pan-tau-tle waited to weigh no rea- 
son, to be swayed by no sentiment. All 
of which he thought at this moment was 
of the danger that menaced him. 

He raised the knife. It was descend- 
ing, when Ton-ke-a-bau’s body swayed 
aside. With a sickening sound the knife 
sank into the lad’s breast. 

With a groan he relaxed his hold upon 
Pan-tau-tle and fell over toward Betty, 
the blood from the wound spattering her 
dress. 

She gave a cry of anguish, and spring- 
ing toward him, caught his head in her 
arms. 

At that very moment Charles came run- 
ning up the bank, and behind him Chi- 
co-la and one of the Indian hunters who 
supplied game to the village. 

Chi-co-la was just in time to see Pan- 


244 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


tau-tle’s fleeing form as he escaped through 
the cane-brake. With a whoop he sprang 
after him. But in a short while, realizing 
how futile would be the effort to overtake 
him, he returned. A thought, too, of the 
wounded brought him back. 

“Oh, sister,” cried Charles, “what has 
happened ? How wretched I feel because 
of what I did, now that such trouble has 
come of it. As soon as I found you were 
not with me, I ran to get help so as to 
go back for you. I knew that if harm 
had come, I could do nothing by myself. 
I found Chi-co-la and San-ka-do-ta fishing 
not far away. You can believe I brought 
them here in a hurry. Oh, sister, tell 
me quickly that you are not hurt.” 

He was on his knees beside her now, 
and pouring out words of solicitude and 
of contrition. 

“ No, Charles, dear,” Betty replied 
quickly, “ there has no harm come to 


RESCUE 


245 


me. But poor Ton-ke-a-bau, I fear me 
he is terribly hurt. See how the blood 
flows !” 

“ How did it happen ? What was he 
doing ? ” 

As quickly as she could Betty told him 
the story of how Pan-tau-tle was making 
ready to carry her away, when Ton-ke-a- 
bau had appeared and sought to prevent 
him. 

She had no more than begun the story 
when Chi-co-la returned. He listened in- 
tently to every word, though from the 
instant he had reached the wounded lad 
he had been busy in the effort to stop 
the flow of blood. 

His face was working strangely, and no 
sooner was Betty’s story finished than he 
began to murmur words none of which 
were understood by Betty and Charles. 

Ton-ke-a-bau, too, had shown strange 
emotion at sight of Chi-co-la. Prostrated 


246 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


as he was, he had given expression to a 
sharp exclamation as soon as his eyes had 
rested upon the Indian’s face. The next 
moment he shut his eyes from weakness, 
for his strength was ebbing fast. 

So steadily had the blood flowed from 
the wound that by this time it had stained 
a whole breadth of Betty’s dress. Though 
he had closed his eyes, Ton-ke-a-bau had 
not lost consciousness. He opened them 
again directly, making a, brave effort to 
smile upon Betty. 

“ How brave he is ! ” said Charles. 
“ Oh, Betty, I can never forgive myself 
for the trouble I have brought on the 
innocent. And to think he was trying 
to save you! But for him you would 
have been carried into captivity. If that 
had really happened, how could I ever 
have stood it?” 

Betty reached out her hand and put it 
on his. She tried to soothe him in this 


RESCUE 


247 


way; but she really had no words at 
that moment with which she could com- 
fort him. Her heart was so full of 
Ton-ke-a-bau and his pain. He had suf- 
fered all this for her. 

“I am ashamed, too, of what I did,” 
confessed Charles. “ I can see now how 
bad it was. The poor Indian was no 
doubt hungry. He wanted his breakfast. 
It was outrageous the way I acted. He 
had cause to be angry. But Betty,” after 
a pause, “ what made him turn upon you ? ” 

“He thought I did it.” 

“ Oh, Betty ! Betty ! ” 

Charles felt worse than ever now. How 
could he forgive himself, even if others 
forgave him? 

Chi-co-la had at last bound Ton-ke-a-bau’ s 
wound, and in such a way that the blood 
had ceased to flow. 

“ To boat,” he said to San-ka-do-ta. 
“Move to boat.” 


248 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


The Indian prepared at once to give 
the assistance. 

u Care ! care ! ” said Chi-co-la. 

He had reason for this solicitude, for 
he knew better than any of the others 
how easy it would be for the wound to 
be made to bleed afresh. The smallest 
jarring, the first misstep, the least awk- 
ward movement, each held its danger. 

But at last they reached the canoe 
safely, and placed Ton-ke-a-bau gently 
upon the bed of pine boughs which Charles 
had gathered and arranged. 

The lad was no more than placed 
therein and Betty and Charles, who had 
remained upon the bank, were preparing 
to follow, when they heard the noise of 
many trampling feet and the clang of 
swords. 

“ The men from the fort,” cried Charles. 
“I thought they would come soon.” 

For ere Chi-co-la had made ready to 


RESCUE 


249 


go with Charles to Betty's rescue, the 
Indian had, following a promise made to 
Mr. Blew and Captain Gabriel, sent an 
arrow speeding straight and swift toward 
the fort. To the head of the arrow was 
attached a tiny thread of scarlet silk. It 
said: “ There is danger to helpless ones. 
Come, and with armed men." In other 
words, it meant that some one, or ones, 
whose duties carried them beyond the 
settlement, had been surprised by the 
savages. 

True to its aim, the arrow had fallen 
almost at the feet of a sentry who pa- 
trolled the south wall. It took but a few 
moments to get the small company of 
men together; but owing to some doubt 
as to the direction whence the arrow had 
come, there had been a tormenting delay. 

As the little company of men, with 
Captain Gabriel Dill marching big and 
brave and handsome at the head, Game 


250 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


into view, Betty, forgetting even Ton-ke-a- 
bau for the moment, rushed to them, and, 
grasping her dear captain’s hand, fell 
against him weeping. 

“ Oh, it has been so dreadful ! ” she 
sobbed; “but it is over now, only Ton-ke- 
a-bau — oh, poor Ton-ke-a-bau ! ” 

She was sobbing against his breast 
now, for he had raised her. 

“ Little maid ! little maid ! ” he cried, 
and his face grew suddenly very white, 
“ so it was you in trouble ? What has 
happened ? Has there been aught of 
harm to befall thee f ” 

“ An Indian captured me. He was 
about to bear me away but Ton-ke-a-bau 
came. Then there was a terrible strug- 
gle, and oh, he has been badly wounded.” 
“Who has, my Betty?” 

“Ton-ke-a-bau. He is there in the boat. 
They were just getting ready to carry him 
to the village.” 


RESCUE 


251 


She gave him a more connected account 
as she hastened with him to the canoe, 
but never once did she implicate Charles. 
He had suffered enough, she thought. It 
would never do for Captain Gabriel to 
speak words of anger to him now. 

Captain Gabriel’s life as sailor and sol- 
dier in times of war had given him a 
knowledge of surgery. 

He looked closely at Ton-ke-a-hau, ex- 
amined the rude bandage Chi-co-la had 
improvised, and spoke a few cheering words 
to the lad. Then he said commendingly 
to Chi-co-la : — 

“ You have done well. The main thing 
is to stop the flow of blood until we can 
get him to the village, and in that you 
have succeeded admirably.” 

Then, as he stepped ashore, he added: — 

“ Push off now. There must be no 
delay. We’ll meet you at the landing.” 

There was a crowd gathered about the 


252 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


wharf, as the canoe bearing the two Ind- 
ians, the wounded boy, and the two 
children came in sight, for Captain Gabriel 
had sent a runner on ahead, who had 
quickly spread the news of what had 
happened. 

Mr. Blew was the first to reach the side 
of the boat, for, as though with one under- 
standing, the others all stepped aside to 
give him free passage. 

Soon Betty was clasped in his arms, and 
pouring into his ear in broken utterances 
the story as she had given it to Captain 
Gabriel. 

Charles greeted his father with a shamed 
face, although he knew that as yet, thanks 
to Betty, no shade of suspicion had fallen 
on him. But Mr. Blew did not note 
Charles’s abashed appearance, for, next to 
Betty, his thoughts were engrossed with the 
wounded boy who had risked his life that 
the little maid might be saved a dreadful fate. 


RESCUE 


253 


“ Poor lad ! poor lad ! ” he said as he 
bent above him tenderly. 

There was that in the gray eyes, now 
misty with pain, that stirred his heart 
strangely. 

“ How brave of you to do what you did,” 
he continued. tc A great debt is mine.” 

Then he added to those who seemed 
undecided as to what disposition to make 
of the wounded boy : — 

“ Carry him to my house. And you, 
Captain Gabriel, will you not come? For 
your skill may be needed ere the elder can 
arrive.” 

When they bore Ton-ke-a-bau to the house, 
the Beautiful was there at the door. Mr. 
Blew had despatched a messenger not only 
to assure her as to Betty and Charles, but 
also to request of her that a bed might be 
made ready for the lad. 

Ton-ke-a-bau had won her regard before, 
but now as she saw him lying upon the 


254 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


litter wounded, and remembered what he 
had risked that her little Betty might be 
restored to her, all her heart went out to 
him. 

A soft, sweet light was in her eyes as she 
bent toward him. It held yearning, too, 
and tenderness. 

“ My brave bo y,” she said, “ I fear me it 
has gone hard with thee.” 

“Not so, dear lady,” he replied, seeking 
to reassure her. “The wound is not so 
bad It is — ” 

But, as though to belie his words, his 
face at that very moment became of an 
ashen hue. A gasping sound escaped him, 
and the next moment his forehead fell 
against the arm she had outstretched to 
him. Ton-ke-a-bau had fainted. 


CHAPTER XVII 


THE ATTACK 

For a brief space the Beautiful believed 
that he was dead, and a sharp pain smote 
her heart. But, as in a little while she 
noted a slight tremor of the chest, hope 
revived. 

“ Take him quickly to the room,” she 
said to the men who bore him. 

Once there she would let no one assist 
her at first save Aunt Joan. For she knew 
just what to do to revive him, she declared. 

As his buckskin shirt was opened that 
freer breathing might be given him, how 
white was the flesh that gleamed beneath, 
strikingly so in contrast with the sun-bronzed 
hue of face and hands. 

The Beautiful looked at her husband, 
who only the moment before had entered 


265 


256 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


and stood beside her. Her eyes were swim- 
ming in tears. 

“ He was torn from some mother’s arms/’ 
she said in husky voice. “ Oh, the pity of 
it!” 

“ Nay,” replied Mr. Blew, gently, and his 
own voice was tremulous, “ she died before 
she knew the anguish of his loss.” 

Then he told her briefly the sad story as 
Ton-ke-a-bau had related it to him. 

“ Poor lad ! poor lad ! ” she said. “ If 
he recovers, we may — ” 

She did not finish, but her husband knew 
what struggled in her heart. He felt some- 
thing of the same longing within his own. 

As Ton-ke-a-bau once more opened his 
eyes, smiling, though feebly, upon her, 
almost at the moment consciousness re- 
turned, Mrs. Blew relinquished her place 
at his side to Captain Gabriel with many 
apologies. 

“ Say naught of that to me, dear lady,” 


THE ATTACK 


257 


he replied. “ It was your gentler hand 
and quicker wit that were needed then.” 

All this while Chi-co-la had been acting 
strangely. 

He had helped to bring Ton-ke-a-bau to 
the house, and he it was who had removed 
him swiftly, yet gently and tenderly, from 
the litter to the bed. 

As he had noted the feeling with which 
Mrs. Blew looked upon the wounded lad 
as they paused at the door, a sudden 
change had swept over Chi-co-la’s face. 
He muttered, too, to himself as he had 
muttered when bending above Ton-ke-a- 
bau on the banks of the creek. While 
Mrs. Blew and Aunt Joan were engaged 
in the effort to restore Ton-ke-a-bau to 
consciousness, Chi-co-la had moved about 
the room restlessly. He gesticulated, too, 
now and then, with some violence. But 
no one heeded him. All were too intent 
upon the boy. 


258 LITTLE BETTY BLEW 

Now, as Mr. Blew stood beside liis wife, 
and the two looked with such distress 
upon the suffering boy, and spoke to each 
other of him, Chi-co-la’s emotion seemed 
well-nigh uncontrollable. More than once 
he started toward them, but each time 
checked himself. Each time, too, he mur- 
mured the same words. These words, un- 
like the others had been, were spoken in 
English. They were : “ Wait ! wait ! Chi- 
co-la must wait.” 

There was evidently something on Ton- 
ke-a-bau’s mind. More than once he mo- 
tioned feebly toward the buckskin pouch 
attached to his belt, which had now been 
removed and hung on a peg in the wall. 
But when Mr. Blew offered to give it to 
him, thinking there might be something 
within he desired, he shook his head as 
though he had changed his mind. 

Five days had passed. Ton-ke-a-bau 
was slowly improving. Both the elder 


THE ATTACK 


259 


and Captain Gabriel had agreed that, 
with care and patience, he would get 
through all right. Soothing remedies had 
been applied, and already the wound 
showed evidence of beginning to heal. 
Both, too, gave the same caution, the lad 
must lie perfectly still. He must not at- 
tempt even to sit up, as any sudden exer- 
tion might open the wound afresh. 

Chi-co-la had insisted on installing him- 
self as nurse, and assuredly none could 
have been more watchful and faithful. 
He moved about the bed with noiseless 
tread, and his hand was gentleness itself 
in its ministrations. But both Mr. and 
Mrs. Blew had come to note something 
strange in Chi-co-la’s behavior. 

Despite his quiet manner when in the 
lad’s presence, they had detected an air 
of restlessness, of uneasiness, about him 
at other times, which disturbed them. It 
seemed as though he were on the watch 


260 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


for something or some one. Once or twice, 
too, they had become aware that he was 
intently regarding them, and they had 
heard him muttering to himself as though 
he were undecided with reference to a 
step he desired to take. When a day or 
so later, he told Mr. Blew that he had 
cause to know there was great danger 
threatening the fort, and besought him 
to have all redouble their vigilance, they 
believed then that this was what had been 
on his mind. 

The colonists, too, had received indica- 
tions of a condition of affairs that had 
given them no little uneasiness. For Tsait- 
kopta, on learning of the presence of Ton- 
ke-a-bau in the village, had gone into a 
terrible rage, declaring that he did not be- 
lieve the story of the lad’s wounding, but 
that he was forcibly detained. 

It had all come out now. At the very 
time that he had been on his way to the 


THE ATTACK 


261 


fort with a sealed message from Tsait- 
kopta the lad had come upon Pan-tau-tle in 
the act of bearing Betty away, and the 
struggle which had cost him his wound 
had ensued. 

The lad did not know the nature of 
the message, though he had suspected it 
was one of grave import. For by this 
time he was well aware of the chief’s atti- 
tude toward the colonists at Dorchester. 

Thus, on the very day of his wounding, 
he had begged that a messenger might go 
to the chief, acquainting him of the acci- 
dent and of his present helplessness. He 
also wished to entreat the chief to await pa- 
tiently the day he, Ton-ke-a-bau, was able 
to return, when explanation would be made 
concerning the message. 

When Chi-co-la promptly volunteered to 
be the messenger to Tsait-kopta, to the 
surprise of all Ton-ke-a-bau at once and 
strenuously opposed it. 


262 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


“No,” lie said, “no, you must not 
go. There has been trouble enough 
already.” 

They thought he referred to his own 
mishap and to the fact that should any- 
thing of a similar nature befall Chi-co-la, 
it would bring additional care and trial 
upon this kind household. 

By Chi-co-la alone were Ton-ke-a-bau’s 
words fully understood. 

It was finally arranged that San-ka-do-ta 
and a young companion should be sent. 

When the message from the chief came 
back, great was the disturbance of mind 
it caused. For, as has been intimated, he 
did not credit the story of Ton-ke-a-bau’s 
wounding. He believed it was a ruse, and 
that the boy was detained as a hostage by 
the people of the village. 

For some reason the old chief was 
fiercely attached to the boy. It had been 
remarked by many that he had a feeling 


THE ATTACK 


263 


of uneasiness whenever the lad was away 
from him, as though he feared harm would 
befall him. Of late, especially, he had been 
guarding him with a jealous eye. Why, 
under the circumstances, he had chosen 
him as a messenger to the fort was, like 
some of the other acts of the old chief, 
unexplainable. Perhaps he had sent him 
because he felt that the white people 
would give more heed to him than they 
would to one of the distrusted Westo 
tribe. Being of their own race, too, they 
would not dare deal dishonorably with 
him. 

Tsait-kopta demanded two things of the 
Dorchester colony: an answer to the mes- 
sage sent by Ton-ke-a-bau, and the immedi- 
ate surrender of the messenger. 

With the first the colonists sent compli- 
ance, for the message carved on bark, and in- 
terpreted by Chi-co-la, had now been turned 
over by Ton-ke-a-bau to Captain Gabriel. 


264 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


Many times the boy had been on the point 
of doing this when first brought to the vil- 
lage, but always his hand had been stayed 
by the belief that it was something that 
would give great pain to the hearts of 
his true friends. Now that he had been 
taken into one of the homes of the settle- 
ment, and was being cared for in this beau- 
tiful way, how could he be the means of 
dealing this blow? But the most disturb- 
ing thought of all to him was of the dan- 
ger that threatened these innocent people; 
for he had reason to believe that Tsait- 
kopta was preparing to make an attack 
upon them. He told his fears to Chi-co-la, 
and we have seen how promptly the latter 
acted. 

With the second request of Tsait-kopta 
the colonists declared they could not com- 
ply, as the lad was in such condition from 
his wound that to send him on the jour- 
ney now might prove fatal. Humanity, if 


THE ATTACK 


265 


naught else, demanded that he should not 
be subjected to this. 

When the chief returned answer, declar- 
ing that he did not believe the boy was 
wounded, they suggested that he send to 
the village those who could see for them- 
selves and assure him of the fact. This 
he refused to do, asserting that it was a 
trap, and that the treacherous whites would 
seize his men as they had seized his 
son. 

These events had covered the space of 
five days. The dawning of the morrow 
brought the sixth one since Ton-ke-a-bau 
had been received into the house of the 
Blews. It brought, too, a day the experi- 
ences of which never faded from Betty’s 
memory. Could she cease to remember 
while life lasted even the smallest occur- 
rence of that terrible day? 

Betty, Aunt Joan, and the Beautiful 
were in the room with Ton-ke-a-bau. He 


266 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


was sitting up, for the first time, in bed, 
propped by the pillows. 

He felt so much better now, he said to 
them, that he believed he would be able 
in two or three days to be carried back 
to the Westo village. Chief Tsait-kopta 
must be very angry by this time, and 
Ton-ke-a-bau feared to enrage him further 
by remaining any longer than could be 
helped. 

“ No, lad,” said the Beautiful, positively, 
“you must not think of going until you 
are fully able.” 

“No, no,” repeated Betty, “you must 
not, Ton-ke-a-bau, till Captain Gabriel and 
the elder say you may.” 

Her eyes had suddenly dimmed. Betty 
looked suspiciously near to tears. How 
she would miss Ton-ke-a-bau when he went 
away ! 

“ I have been a great trouble,” said 
Ton-ke-a-bau, wistfully, looking from the 


THE ATTACK 


267 


Beautiful to Aunt Joan, “to you, dear 
lady, and to you, kind mistress.” 

“So good a lad deserves all that could 
be done for him,” replied Aunt Joan, a 
smile so sweet upon her lips it made Ton- 
ke-a-bau feel as though a ray of sunshine 
had darted straight through his heart. 

“ And so brave a one, our gratitude 
always,” added the Beautiful. 

She took the hand lying upon the cov- 
erlid, pressing it between her own, and 
then indeed it seemed to Ton-ke-a-bau as 
though a whole sun shone upon him. 

Chi-co-la, too, was in the room. He stood 
leaning against the wall at the foot of the 
bed. Whenever he could do so unobserved, 
he fixed his eyes with intent gaze upon 
Mrs. Blew. He seemed trying to read 
her thought from the expression of her 
face. Once his lips opened with speech 
for her. 

“ Mistress,” he said, “ Chi-co-la must — ” 


268 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


But she did not hear him, and he made 
no further effort of this kind. It was as 
though he had lost the courage with which 
he began. 

However, as she took Ton-ke-a-bau’s hand 
between her own, Chi-co-la, as though unable 
longer to control himself, made sudden move- 
ment toward her. 

At that moment a gun fired, followed 
by a loud shout, then many shouts inter- 
mingled. 

“ Oh, what was that, Beautiful ? ” cried 
Betty. 

“ A gun from the fort,” replied her mother, 
quickly rising. 

“Now they are shouting,” added Aunt 
Joan. “Oh, I fear me something terri- 
ble is happening ! ” 

They were pressing toward the little 
window that looked out upon the fort, 
when Mr. Blew hastily entered, and be- 
hind him San-ka-do-ta. 


THE ATTACK 


269 


“It is bad news I bring; but be calm, 
dear ones. We are attacked by the Wes- 
toes, and all must hasten t(? the fort. No 
time is to be lost, as we cannot tell how 
soon the Indians will be over the fortifi- 
cations and into the village. Squads of 
our men are now seeking to hold them 
at bay till all in the houses have safely 
reached the fort.” 

“ But the lad,” cried the Beautiful, 
quickly, as her gaze was directed toward 
Ton-ke-a-bau. “ What is to be done about 
the lad ? ” 

“ I came prepared for that. Here is San- 
ka-do-ta, and I have sent Charles for Simon. 
The boy must be carried in one of the blan- 
kets. Make ready, Chi-co-la.” 

“Chi-co-la hear,” replied the red man, 
heartily. 

At that moment Charles and Simon Dale 
appeared, quickly followed by Caroline and 
Miranda Welch. 


270 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


“ Oh, father ! ” cried Caroline, as she 
sprang toward him and grasped him by 
the arm. “ Is* it true that the Indians 
have attacked the village ? ” 

“Do you not hear them yourself, my 
daughter ? ” 

“ Yes, father. Oh, what horrible shouts ! 
But I thought Charles was surely mistaken, 
and that it was some noisy feast or dance 
they were having. What shall we do, 
father ? ” 

“ Be as brave as we can, each one of us, 
from Dinkie up,” he replied promptly, as 
he reached downward to lay his hand upon 
the little one’s head. “ Yes, be brave, and 
strive to reach the fort,” he repeated, “ with 
all the speed possible.” 

“We are ready,” said the Beautiful, 
calmly. 

“ Are all here ? ” 

“ Yes, Philip ; every one, I am thankful 
to say.” 


THE ATTACK 


271 


“Be careful of the lad, of all things/’ 
said Mr. Blew to those who were prepar- 
ing to lift Ton-ke-a-bau. 

“ Master, master/’ entreated the lad, 
“ leave me. I am not afraid. They 
will not harm me. It will delay you 
so to take the time to carry me. Oh, 
let me stay, I beg.” 

“ Speak no further words of such nature, 
lad. They are useless. Naught that you 
could say would induce us to leave you 
here.” 

“ Father,” cried Betty, “ oh, I must go 
and get Prince Clarence. I just could not 
leave him behind. He would not know 
what it meant when he found us all gone, 
and he would grieve so for me. Oh,” she 
added hastily, “where is Winks ?” 

A sharp bark answered her, for the dog 
had just appeared in response to a whistle 
from Charles. 

The shouts had greatly increased by this 


272 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


time. There was, too, continued firing. Not 
only had the muskets sounded, but there 
was the boom of cannon from the fort. 

As they reached the yard, arrows were 
already falling within the enclosure. 

In vain Mr. Blew urged his wife and 
Aunt Joan to hasten on with Caroline, 
Miranda, and the children to the fort. 
He felt that he must remain with the 
men who bore the wounded lad. 

“ Entreat me not thus, Philip/’ his brave 
wife made reply. “ Whatever of danger 
there is to you we, too, must share it.” 

This also said Aunt Joan. 

The whole village was now in a panic. 
Women, children, and men were issuing 
from the houses on all sides. 

“Look,” cried Charles. “Oh, I fear me 
some of us will be caught and slain.” 

They turned in the direction indicated. 
What they saw made their hearts beat 
many times faster. 


THE ATTACK 


273 


A score or more of the Indians had 
succeeded in reaching the top of the west 
line of fortifications ; and though the squad 
of soldiers was making heroic effort to 
press them back, it was only too evident 
that they would soon be far outnumbered. 

Even as the Blews looked the captain 
of the squad, realizing how great was the 
odds against him, and wishing not to 
sacrifice his men needlessly, gave the com- 
mand to fall back toward the fort. 

Two-thirds of the people had now safely 
reached the fort, but the chances of like 
safety seemed unmistakably against the 
other portion, among this number the 
Blews. 

All were hovering about the litter con- 
taining the wounded lad. Mr. Blew was 
urging caution while inciting them to 
swifter movement. His wife and Aunt 
Joan remained with him. The children 
were a few paces in advance. Winks ran 


274 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


ahead, barking furiously. He saw tne 
danger and begged them to hurry more. 
He even gained the door of the fort, but 
ran back to them again. Faithful Winks 
did not care to find safety himself while 
his loved ones were in danger. 

“ Leave me,” entreated Ton-ke-a-bau 
again. “ Oh, leave me, dear friends, and 
save yourselves.’ ’ 

“ Nay, lad,” replied Mr. Blew. “ To 
leave you here would mean death.” 

Through all this time Betty had clung 
to Prince Clarence. He was now coddled 
in her arms, though to hold herself in 
this position was to have less freedom of 
movement. 

Shame to say, Prince Clarence was 
giving his little mistress much trouble. 
For he had strongly objected to what he 
deemed the rude way in which he had 
been snatched up, and now this rapid 
flight amid all these disturbing sounds 


THE ATTACK 


275 


was not at all to his liking. So he 
struggled to be free again. At the most 
critical point in this race for life, just as 
it seemed the savages would surely be 
upon them ere they could reach the 
entrance to the fort, Prince Clarence suc- 
ceeded in getting himself away from 
Betty’s clasp. With a thud he struck 
the ground, and began crawling away as 
fast as ever he could. 

“ Leave him alone, Betty ! ” cried Mr. 
Blew. “ Let him go ! My child, you 
must not!” 

But here he seized her, and amid con- 
fusion and shouts, and the rush all about 
them of men contending, Betty felt her- 
self swept onward, her father still grasp- 
ing her. 

In a few moments more she was within 
the fort, and with a clang the great iron 
doors had swung together. Not a moment 
too soon. For the brave soldiers who 


276 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


had lingered to the last moment in order 
to shield the flight of women and chil- 
dren were barely within the walls when 
the foremost of the Westoes hurled them- 
selves against the closing doors. 

As Betty looked around, her heart 
swelled with thankfulness, for father, 
mother, Aunt Joan, and all were there 
in safety. 

But a sob was in her throat as she 
thought of Prince Clarence. 


CONCLUSION 


The howling savages tried by every 
means in their power to reach the people 
sheltered within the fort. 

Thwarted in this, it seemed that they 
would next attack the village, burning 
and pillaging. But not so. It was the 
lives of the colonists they wanted more 
than aught else. No doubt, when this 
savage desire was satisfied, they would 
turn their attention to the village. 

The Indians continued to swarm upon 
the fort, howling and chanting their war- 
songs. Again and again they strove to 
scale the walls ; but each time were beaten 
back by the brave sentries. 

They tried next to set the fort on fire 
by sending burning arrows within the 
277 


278 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


enclosure, but, as the structure had been 
prepared with a view to just such an 
occurrence, the blazing missiles did no 
harm. 

As all danger was now past of firing 
upon those fleeing to the fort for safety, 
the musketry began to play with deadly 
effect upon the savages. They were aston- 
ished by the suddenness and force of the 
volleys. Those who had entered the vil- 
lage by the west wall fell back in dis- 
order. They seemed on the point of 
fleeing, but were rallied by a tall man 
whose waving plumes and glittering re- 
galia proclaimed him a chief. 

He harangued them, making wild ges- 
tures as he did so. He was urging them 
to return. Unmindful of the bullets that 
swept past him, or the men who were 
falling about him, he stood his ground, 
persuading, threatening. At last he had 
them formed into a phalanx for a charge. 


CONCLUSION 


279 


They came rushing back, howling and 
screeching like so many demons, a great 
beam borne in their midst, which they no 
doubt intended to use as a battering ram, 
hoping thus to force the gates. 

But now another storm of musketry 
greeted them. Many fell, and among 
them the chief. The others fled in wild 
disorder. A moment or so thereafter the 
chief was seen to rise, and to attempt to 
crawl away. He reached an angle of one 
of the dwellings. There he seemed sud- 
denly to lose strength, falling prostrate. 

All the Indians able to do so had now 
disappeared from within the enclosure. 
They had no fancy to he raked again by 
that deadly fire from the fort while penned 
within the barricades. Apparently they 
were unaware that their chief had fallen. 
Joining themselves to those without, they 
had renewed the attack from the direction 
of the river. 


280 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


Chi-co-la, who, with San-ka-do-ta, had 
climbed to one of the bastions, and was 
now watching in great excitement the 
progress of the battle, was considerably 
overcome by the sight of the tall chief 
in front of his men. When the chief 
fell he could hardly contain himself. He 
did not do so long. 

“ Go ! go ! Chi-co-la must go !” he cried. 

Ere one of those present had an inkling 
of his intention, he was out on the wall, 
then scrambling down it, and calling loudly 
to San-ka-do-ta to follow him. 

Five minutes later they appeared at the 
great door of the fort half dragging, half 
supporting, the wounded chief between 
them. 

Some of the Indians had now seen them, 
and, recognizing Tsait-kopta, were clamber- 
ing over the fortifications in the effort to 
reach them. They had no fancy to see 
their chief thus dragged into captivity. 


CONCLUSION 


281 


Chi-co-la hammered frantically at the 
door, begging admittance, and it was 
opened none too soon. The space of only 
a moment more, and the enraged Indians 
would have fallen upon the bold captors 
of their chief. 

On into the great hall, thronged with 
women and children and old men, they 
bore Tsait-kopta, laying him upon a 
blanket near to Ton-ke-a-bau, and almost 
at the feet of Betty — Betty sitting in 
mournful silence thinking of Prince Clar- 
ence. 

But so soon as she saw the wounded 
chief, her heart was touched with pity. 
She knew that he was suffering, for his 
face was drawn with pain. 

“ Poor chief ! poor chief ! ” said Betty, 
u I am so sorry for you.” 

He did not understand the words, but 
he did the language of the pitying eyes 
bent upon him. His own fierce eyes 


282 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


grew softer as he looked at the little 
girl. 

Betty leaned nearer to put her hand 
gently on his. Somehow she felt that the 
kindly touch would help him. And now 
a wonderful thing happened. 

As Betty leaned toward the chief, speak- 
ing to him again, there was a stir beneath 
his clothing, then increased movement 
as of a small live creature in commotion. 
The next moment a little round head with 
glittering eyes was poked out, and then, 
as a scream of delight rang out from 
Betty, forth came Prince Clarence, his 
beadlike eyes shining upon his mistress, 
his little stump of a tail wriggling in the 
most violent delight. 

As the chief had lain wounded, the terra- 
pin had recognized him — for it had been 
raised in the home of Tsait-kopta — and 
had crawled to him. Perhaps he had 
seen it first, and called to it. At any 


CONCLUSION 


283 


rate, it had gone to him, and, establishing 
itself under the folds of his clothing, had 
remained there till Betty’s voice called 
her pet forth again. Such a meeting as 
took place then between Prince Clarence 
and his mistress. 

Ever since he had been brought into 
the fort Tsait-kopta’s eyes had been wan- 
dering from side to side, as though in eager 
search. The place being crowded, his 
vision was limited to those immediately 
about him. 

Recognizing the quest, Mr. Blew leaned 
over him to ask a question. Ere he could 
do so, the chief spoke a name. It was 
Ton-ke-a-bau. 

They brought the lad and laid him 
close beside the chief. As they noted 
the expression with which he fastened 
his eyes upon the boy’s face, they saw 
how great was the love he bore him. 

Surprise, regret, alarm — all these were 


284 LITTLE BETTY BLEW 

in the look, too, with which he regarded 
Ton-ke-a-bau. For he could now no longer 
doubt the story of the lad’s wound- 
ing. 

With difficulty he turned himself and 
began murmuring words to the boy. 
Evidently the fierce old chief was all 
broken up by the events that had oc- 
curred. Perhaps, too, he realized that his 
end might be near. 

The boy extended his hand with answer- 
ing words. His voice was very low and 
tender. 

As he turned himself, the wound in the 
chief’s side began to bleed anew. Noting 
the fresh stains that soon appeared upon 
his clothing, Mrs. Blew, speaking some 
words to Aunt Joan, came quickly forward. 
She approached her husband, calling his 
attention to the danger. 

“ Let us do what we can for him, Philip,” 
she said. “ There is no one else, unless 


CONCLUSION 


285 


Captain Gabriel, tbe elder, or Chi-co-la 
were here.” 

For Chi-co-la, so soon as he had brought 
the chief in, had disappeared. He was 
nearer now, however, than she thought. 

“ I will persuade him to let me open his 
clothing, Philip,” Mrs. Blew said again, 
and indicating the chief. “ I have my 
scissors here. We may then be able to 
stanch the blood and bind the wound. 
The poor creature ought to have attention.” 

But as she bent toward the chief, to her 
great surprise, Chi-co-la, appearing, sought 
to prevent her. 

“ Don’t touch ! don’t touch ! ” he said. 
“ No fit ! No fit for you ! for you ! ” 

He kept repeating the last words, em- 
phasizing them more and more, and there 
was such a strange look upon his face that 
Mrs. Blew involuntarily drew away from him 
and toward her husband. 

66 Why must I not touch him ? ” she found 


286 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


voice to say. “ Surely you do not think 
he will hurt me?” 

Almost in the same breath she answered 
her own question. 

“ I am sure he will not. For shame, 
Chi-co-la, do you not see his desperate 
strait ? ” 

“I think you misunderstand Chi-co-la, 
Lorinda,” said her husband. “He means 
it will be no fit sight for your eye. Let 
Chi-co-la himself attend to the wound. 
He is the one.” 

But Chi-co-la made no movement to do 
this. Instead, he stood there muttering, 
while his face worked strangely as he 
looked down upon the prostrate chief. 

The latter returned the gaze. His eyes, 
too, glittered; but to Mr. Blew, who re- 
garded him closely, there seemed only 
despair in the gaze. 

“Chi-co-la,” said Mr. Blew, “the chief 
is bleeding steadily. At this rate his 


CONCLUSION 


287 


strength will soon be sapped. Why do 
you not aid him?” 

Compelled by the voice and eye of the 
man he regarded witli deeper feeling than 
any other, Chi-co-la dropped upon one knee 
beside the chief and began his search for 
the wound. All the while he held his face 
averted from the eyes of the chief. 

As Chi-co-la sought to open the breast of 
the buckskin shirt, the chief made sudden 
effort to stay his hand. But it proved no 
more than an effort because of his weak- 
ness. Noting the movement, a strange fire 
leaped to Chi-co-la’s eyes, and he made 
greater haste to get his hands within the 
bosom of the shirt. 

The chief groaned and shut his eyes, 
realizing his helplessness. 

Suddenly Chi-co-la sprang up. His face 
was working as that of one struggling 
with deep emotion. 

Something there was in his hand which 


288 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


he had taken from the bosom of the chief’s 
shirt, but no one could see just then what it 
was. 

He approached Mr. and Mrs. Blew, still 
standing together, and regarding with sur- 
prise the scene before them. 

What ailed Chi-co-la? What did his 
strange actions mean ? These were the 
questions they kept asking themselves. 

“ Undo ! undo ! ” cried Chi-co-la as he 
came nearer. “ Chi-co-la will undo.” 

He dropped upon his knees before them, 
but he did not look up. Instead his head 
was bent downward, as though in shame 
or terror. His limbs trembled. 

“Take, mistress, take; then Chi-co-la 
tell — all.” 

He extended his hand toward her, still 
clasping that which he had removed from 
the bosom of the chiefs shirt. 

She reached to get it. As she was trem- 
bling almost as much as Chi-co-la, the articles 


CONCLUSION 


289 


dropped away from her fingers and fell in 
a little soft heap at her feet. But as they 
fell they opened, so that now they lay 
spread out before her. 

She bent toward them, but her eye had 
no more than rested upon them when with 
a piercing cry she reached for her husband’s 
arm, and drew him down beside her. 

“ Look, Philip ! ” she cried. “ Look ! look ! 
Oh, Edward ! Edivard ! ” 

It was no wonder that she had thus cried 
out, or that she now continued to exclaim 
with frantic vehemence. For the articles 
lying before her were a child’s lace collar 
exquisitely wrought and a handkerchief of 
softest, finest silk. Each was worked with 
the monogram “ E. B.,” and each had been 
on her little Edward that ever-to-be-remem- 
bered day when they had looked their last 
upon him on the wharf at Charles Town. 
There was no mistaking either article. 
The collar was her own handiwork, the 


290 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


kerchief she had knotted about the child’s 
throat only a short while before his disap- 
pearance, because of the stiff, raw breeze 
from the sea. 

“ Chi-co-la undo,” repeated the Indian. 
“ Chi-co-la steal pale-face woman’s child, 
because hate white people. Want to see 
suffer. Carry to Tsait-kopta. He keep 
little while, then want to make bargain 
with Chi-co-la. Boy look like pale-face 
squaw of Tsait-kopta that dead. He love 
boy. He want boy. Chi-co-la want boy, 
too, after a while. No make bargain with 
Tsait-kopta. Want boy back. Then chief 
slip away. Take boy. Chi-co-la no find 
till long time. Chi-co-la mad. Have big 
quarrel with chief. Chief drive Chi-co-la 
off. Chi-co-la go to bad. Get poor. Want 
things. Then take what chief give for 
boy. 

“ At last Chi-co-la meet white man, 
father of boy. Know white man right 


CONCLUSION 


291 


away. White man know not Chi-co-la. 
White man great friend to Chi-co-la. Get 
Chi-co-la heart. Make Chi-co-la sorry. 
Want to undo. Go to chief. Try to get 
boy to give back to father. Chief more 
mad than ever. Love boy hard. Can’t 
give up. Say will kill boy if Chi-co-la give 
back to white father. Even hide clothes, 
keep Chi-co-la from showing father. Love 
boy so, carry part in shirt. Chi-co-la see.” 

But the heart of the mother could bear 
no more. Already the truth was beginning 
to break upon her. 

“ Oh, Philip ! ” she cried. “ Oh, Philip, 
can it be ? ” 

Her gaze went past Chi-co-la, past the 
heads of the people gathered around, on 
and down, until it rested upon the wan face 
of Ton-ke-a-bau as he lay beside the chief. 
He, too, had heard Chi-co-la’s story. He, 
too, had lifted wondering eyes to the 
excited Indian from the moment he had 


292 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


begun. As Mrs. Blew’s glance went swiftly 
to Ton-ke-a-bau, she met his own startled 
gaze. 

Chi-co-la sprang up at the mother’s cry. 

“ Mistress ! mistress ! ” he exclaimed. 
“ Me see you know ! Chi-co-la need tell no 
more. Ton-ke-a-bau the child of pale-face 
lady. Chief tell wrong story ’bout parents, 
so as boy not try find when grow big. Oh, 
mistress ! oh, master ! forgive poor Chi- 
co-la!” 

But they did not then heed his plea. 

Father and mother had sprung to embrace 
their long-lost boy. Aunt Joan, Caroline, 
Charles, and Betty, too, had gathered about 
him. Kisses, caresses, words of endearment, 
were showered in their wealth upon him. 

“ So you are our long-lost brother, 
Edward,” cried Betty. “ Oh, now I know 
why I loved you from the first.” 

Even Winks seemed to understand, and 
capered about in his joy. 


CONCLUSION 


293 


You must not think that during this 
time poor Chief Tsait-kopta had been for- 
gotten. Seeing the parents occupied with 
their boy, Chi-co-la had turned with glisten- 
ing eyes to the chief. In a short while his 
wounds had been cleansed and dressed. 
Nor did Chi-co-la go without his forgiveness, 
nor Tsait-kopta either. For the latter, con- 
quered by the kindness of the white people, 
bestowed upon him during the illness that 
followed, besought humbly that his wrong- 
doing should no more be treasured against 
him, and his pardon came full and free. 

In the midst of the rejoicing over Ton- 
ke-a-bau Captain Gabriel appeared among 
them with the glad news that the Indians 
had been completely routed and peace 
again prevailed. 

How astonished he was to hear that Ton- 
ke-a-bau, or Edward, as we must now call 
him, was the long-missing son of his friends. 
How deeply, too, he entered into their joy 


294 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 


at his restoration. He had learned to re- 
gard the boy very kindly. He had often 
addressed him as “ my dear lad.” A month 
later he called him “ my dear nephew/’ for, 
do you see, the big, brave captain had 
married Aunt Joan. 

The happiest one at the wedding, out- 
side the captain and Aunt Joan themselves, 
was, as you can easily guess, our little 
Betty Blew. 

Now we must say good-by to her. Per- 
haps we’ll meet her again, but then I think 
she’ll no longer be little Betty Blew, but a 
fine, well-grown young maid. Then we’ll 
know her as “ A Lass of Dorchester.” 


6:783 

















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